THE 


RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA, 


RISING    TIIK 


SOCIETY,  CLIMATE,  SALUBRITY,  SCENERY, 

COMMERCE  AND   INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  STATE. 


JOHN  S.  IIITTELL 


SIXTH  EDITION,   REWRITTEN. 


SAX   FRANCISCQ: 

ROM  A  1ST   &    COMPANY 

.     • 


THE 


RESOURCES  OF   CALIFORNIA 


COMPRISING  THE 


SOCIETY,  CLIMATE,  SALUBRITY,  SCENERY, 

COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRY 

OF  THE  STATE. 


BY 


JOHN  s.  HITTELL; 


SIXTH    EDITION,    REWRITTEN. 


SAN 
A.    ROMAN    &    COMPANY. 

NEW  YORK :    W.  J.  WTDDLETON. 
1874. 


v\ 

\0 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-four, 

BY     A.     ROMAN     &     CO. 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


BACON    4    COMPANY,     PRINTERS,    SAN    FRANCISCO. 


PREFACE  TO  THE    SIXTH  EDITION, 


I  write  the  resources  of  a  State,  which,  though  young  in  years,  small 
in  population,  and  remote  from  the  chief  centers  of  civilization,  is  yet 
known  to  the  furthest  corners  of  the  earth,  and  during  the  last  twenty- 
four  years  has  had  an  influence  upon  the  course  of  human  life  and 
the  prosperity  and  trade  of  nations,  more  powerful  than  that  exerted 
during  the  same  period  by  kingdoms  whose  subjects  are  numbered  by 
millions,  whose  history  dates  back  through  thousands  of  years,  and 
whose  present  stock  of  wealth  began  to  accumulate  before  our  continent 
was  discovered,  or  our  language  was  formed.  I  write  of  a  land  of 
wonders.  I  write  of  California,  which  has  astonished  the  world  by 
many  marvelous  facts  in  her  history,  and  by  the  singular  forms  assumed 
by  nature  within  her  limits;  by  the  great  migration  that  suddenly 
built  up  the  first  large  Caucasian  community  on  the  shores  of  the 
North  Pacific  ;  by  her  vast  yield  of  gold,  amounting  to  $1,000,000,000, 
preceptibly  affecting  the  markets  of  labor  and  money  in  all  the  leading 
nations  of  Christendom ;  by  the  rapid  development  of  her  commerce ; 
by  the  swift  settlement  of  her  remote  districts  ;  by  the  prompt  organiza- 
tion of  her  government ;  by  the  liberality  with  which  the  mines  were 
thrown  open  and  made  free  to  all  comers ;  by  the  rush  of  adventurers 
of  every  color  and  of  every  tongue ;  by  the  high  rates  of  her  interest 
and  wages ;  by  the  vast  extent  of  her  gold-fields,  and  the  facility 
with  which  they  could  be  worked  ;  by  the  auriferous  rivers  in  which 
fortunes  could  be  made  in  a  week ;  by  pliocene  streams  richer  than 
those  of  the  present  era ;  by  beds  of  lava,  which,  filling  up  the 
beds  of  pliocene  rivers,  were  left,  after  the  erosion  of  the  banks  and 


IV  PREFACE. 

adjacent  plains,  to  stand  as  mountains,  marking  the  position  of  great 
treasures  beneath ;  by  nuggets,  each  worth  a  fortune ;  by  the  peculiar 
nature  of  her  mining  industry  ;  by  new  and  strange  inventions  ;  by  the 
washing  down  of  mountains ;  by  rilling  the  rivers  of  the  Sacramento 
basin  with  thick  mud  throughout  the  year ;  by  six  thousand  miles  of 
mining  ditches ;  by  aqueducts  less  durable,  but  scarcely  less  wonderful, 
than  those  of  ancient  Rome ;  by  quicksilver  mines  surpassing  those  of 
Spain  ;  by  great  deposits  of  sulphur  and  asphaltum  ;  by  lakes  of  borax  ; 
by  mud  volcanoes,  'geysers,  and  natural  bridges  ;  by  a  valley  of  roman- 
tic and  sublime  beauty,  shut  in  by  walls  nearly  perpendicular  and  more 
than  three-quarters  of  a  mile  high,  with  half  a  dozen  great  cascades,  in 
one  of  which  the  water  at  two  leaps  falls  more  than  the  third  of  a  mile  ; 
by  a  climate  the  most  conducive  to  health,  and  the  most  favorable  to 
mental  and  physical  exertion — so  equable  on  the  middle  coast  that  ice 
is  never  seen  and  thin  summer  clothing  never  worn,  and  that  January 
differs  in  average  temperature  only  eight  degrees  of  Fahrenheit  from 
July ;  by  a  singular  botany,  including  the  most  splendid  known  group 
of  coniferous  trees,  of  which  half  a  dozen  species  grow  to  be  more  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  one  species  has  reached  a  height  of 
four  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  a  diameter  of  forty  feet  in  the  trunk ; 
by  a  peculiar  zoology,  composed  chiefly  of  animals  found  only  on  this 
Coast,  and  including  the  largest  bird  north  of  the  Equator,  and  the 
largest  and  most  formidable  quadruped  of  the  continent ;  by  the  im- 
portation in  early  years  of  all  articles  of  food,  and  then  by  the  speedy 
development  of  agriculture,  until  her  wheat  and  wine  have  gone  to  the 
furthest  cities  in  search  of  buyers,  and  until  her  markets  are  unrivaled 
in  the  variety  and  magnificence  of  home-grown  fruits ;  by  the  largest 
crops  of  grain,  and  the  largest  specimens  of  fruits  and  vegetables  on 
record  ;  by  a  society  where  for  years  there  was  not  one  woman  to  a  score 
of  men,  and  where  all  the  men  were  in  the  bloom  of  manhood  ;  by  the 
first  settlement  of  Chinamen  among  white  men ;  by  the  rapid  fluctua- 
tions of  trade ;  by  the  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  men,  most 
of  whom  came  to  the  country  poor ;  by  the  practice,  universal  in  early 
years,  of  going  armed ;  by  the  multitude  of  deadly  affrays ;  by  extra- 
constitutional  courts,  which  sometimes  punished  villains  with  immedi- 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

by,  subsequent  discoveries.  But  the  excitement  was  up,  and  we  were  not 
disposed  to  be  critical  or  skeptical.  The  start  was  accompanied  by  the 
warnings  of  the  old  men,  the  tears  of  the  women,  and  the  envious  and 
congratulatory  remarks  of  our  associates  who  wanted  to  come  and  could 
not.  It  was  an  impressive  occasion,  full  of  bright  hopes  and  dark  fore- 
bodings for  many  who  remained,  as  well  as  for  all  who  came. 

Of  the  unorganized  army  of  20,000  men  who,  in  May,  1849,  broke 
camp  at  various  points  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  River  between  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  and  Independence,  to  march  to  the  land  of  gold,  I  was  one.  A 
few  had  pack  animals  or  mule  teams,  but  most  had  oxen — three  yoke  and 
three  men  to  a  wagon,  in  which  we  had  provisions  for  a  year,  as  there  was 
then  no  stock  in  the  mines,  and  we  knew  not  when  we  should  find  a 
supply.  All  were  armed  for  defense.  As  for  the  men,  we  were  the 
flower  of  the  "West:  nearly  all  young,  active,  healthy,  many  well  edu- 
cated, all  full  of  hope  anr?  "  nthusiasm.  In  our  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  auriferous  deposits  we  expected,  unless  exceptionally  unfortunate,  to 
strike  places  where  we  should  dig  up  two  or  three  hundred  pounds  of 
gold  in  a  day  without  difficulty.  In  visions  by  day  and  in  dreams  by 
night,  we  saw  ourselves  in  the  possession  of  treasures  more  splendid  than 
those  that  dazzled  the  eyes  of  Aladdin.  We  compared  ourselves  to  the 
Argonauts,  to  the  army  of  Alexander  starting  to  conquer  Persia,  to  the 
Crusaders.  Our  enthusiasm  was  maintained  by  our  numbers.  The  road, 
as  far  as  we  could  see  by  day  from  the  highest  mountains,  was  lined  with 
men  and  wagons ;  at  night  the  camp-fires  gleamed  like  the  lights  of  a  city 
set  on  a  kill.  Our  brightest  anticipations  suffered  no  diminution  as  we 
advanced  on  our  journey  ;  vexatious  and  tiresome  as  many  of  the  days 
were,  we  never  forgot,  we  never  doubted,  the  reward  that  was  to  com- 
pensate us.  The  long  march  of  two  thousand  miles,  (for  we  were 
nearly  all  afoot,  and  there  were  no  seats  in  the  wagons)  the  fording  and 
ferrying  of  cold  and  swift  rivers,  the  repeated  preparation  for  Indian 
attacks  of  which  false  alarms  were  spread,  the  tedious  guarding  of  the 
cattle  at  night,  the  long  marches  over  the  desert,  the  oppressive  heat  and 
the  still  more  oppressive  dust  of  the  alkaline  plains,  the  toilsome  ascent 
of  the  mountains,  which  seemed  so  steep  that  we  doubted  whether  our 
oxen  could  climb  up  —  all  these  were  borne,  if  not  cheerfully,  yet 


XIV  PREFACE. 

without  regret  that  we  had  ventured  upon  them.  I  can  mention  but  I 
cannot  describe  the  anxiety  of  finding  that  a  desert  which  we  expected 
to  cross  in  forty  miles  was  much  longer,  and  on  being  told  by  a  man 
who  met  us  that  he  had  been  thirty  miles  further  and  found  no  sign  of 
grass  or  water.  Our  oxen  were  already  exhausted,  and  such  a  distance 
was  impracticable.  Nobody  that  we  knew  had  been  over  the  road,  nor 
had  we  any  guides.  We  went  on,  however,  and  found  two  families — 
men,  women,  and  children — in  tears,  their  oxen  all  dead,  themselves 
helpless.  We  still  pressed  on,  and  the  next  morning  we  and  the  unfor- 
tunate families  were  in  camp  at  an  oasis,  and  fiddling  and  dancing  fol- 
lowed the  suffering.  Neither  can  I  describe  the  delight  with  which  we 
looked  down  from  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  over  the  distant 
valley  of  the  Sacramento,  dim  and  golden  in  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun. 
We  had  come  to  dig  for  gold,  and  nearly  all  who  came  by  land  went 
to  mining.  Though  we  did  not  make  so  much  as  we  had  hoped,  we 
still  found  the  placers  wonderfully  rich.  It  was  no  uncommon  event 
for  a  man  alone  to  take  out  five  hundred  dollars  in  a  day,  or  for  two  or 
three,  if  working  together,  to  divide  the  dust  at  the  end  of  the  week  by 
measuring  it  with  tin  cups.  But  we  were  never  satisfied.  Others  were 
getting  more  :  we  were  not  making  enough.  We  went  prospecting  far 
out  into  the  districts  occupied  by  hostile  Indians  ;  we  found  diggings 
that  would  at  last  make  millionaires  of  us ;  but  in  the  midst  of  our  re- 
joicings we  ran  out  of  provisions,  and  had  to  live  for  days  on  grass  and 
acorns,  picked  from  the  holes  in  trees  where  they  had  been  placed  by 
woodpeckers.  We  had  to  meet  the  savages  in  battle  ;  and  more  danger- 
ous than  that,  we  had  to  swim  the  large  mountain  torrents  in  full  flood 
height.  For  months  we  slept  under  no  shelter  and  saw  no  house.  And 
worst  of  all,  our  diggings,  which  we  had  gone  so  far  and  risked  so  much 
to  find,  at  last  deceived  us.  They  were  not  so  rich  as  we  imagined ;  the 
water  gave  out,  and  we  were  not  numerous  enough  to  keep  up  a  guard 
at  all  points  against  the  Indians.  All  these  things  I  went  through  in 
person,  and  my  experience  was,  perhaps,  not  so  eventful  as  that  of  most 
pioneer  miners.  The  expenses,  the  time  spent  in  traveling  and  prospect- 
ing, and  the  lack  of  all  the  luxuries  and  many  of  the  comforts  of  life, 
made  many  of  us  think  it  was  cheaper  to  get  gold  in  any  other  way 


PREFACE.  XV 

than  by  digging  for  it  in  the  placers.  We  abandoned  the  mines.  Our 
bright  dreams  of  becoming  millionaires  by  washing  the  sands  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  were  all  dissipated.  Nor  have  we,  as  a  class,  made  large 
fortunes  in  other  pursuits,  and  of  those  who  have,  not  a  few  have  lost 
them  again.  But  when  we  look  back  at  the  interval  of  twenty  years, 
we  do  not  regret  that  we  became  pioneers.  "We  had  demanded  of  Cali- 
fornia that  she  should  fill  the  purses  of  every  one  with  gold.  She  re- 
fused that  demand  to  many,  but  she  gave  to  all  a  cherished  home,  a 
sunny  and  genial  sky,  a  fertile  soil,  a  delightful  landscape,  a  clime 
suited  to  the  development  of  every  energy,  the  companionship  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  enterprising  people,  and  a  site  suited  for  a  great 
city  and  for  the  concentration  of  the  commerce  of  a  wealthy  coast.  She 
gave  us  the  greatest  relative  abundance  of  gold  known  in  the  world. 
She  compressed,  within  a  few  years,  the  progress  that  elsewhere  would 
have  required  a  century.  Our  business  has  been  unparalleled  in  its 
activity.  Our  lives  have  been  a  rapid  succession  of  strong  sensations. 
Great  wealth  has  hovered  about  us  all,  within  reach  of  all,  and  if  many 
of  us  did  not  know  the  precise  moment  for  grasping  it,  still  we  have  for 
years  been  interested  in  the  chase ;  and  perhaps  the  active  excitement  of 
pursuit  has  given  us  more  pleasure  than  we  could  have  enjoyed  in  posses- 
sion. Many  of  us  have  gone  back  to  the  Eastern  States,  intending  to 
make  homes  there,  but  found  the  attempt  a  complete  failure.  Life  was 
a  dull  and  commonplace  routine  ;  once  accustomed  to  the  whirl  of  Cali- 
fornian  speculation  and  the  cordiality  of  Californian  society,  we  could 
not  live  without  them. 

For  a  long  time  we  could  not  think  or  speak  of  this  as  home.  "We  had 
started  with  the  expectation — the  promise — of  soon  returning.  When 
we  first  saw  the  brown  mountains  and  the  bare  plains  of  California  in 
the  fall  of  1849,  it  did  not  occur  to  us  that  we  should  ever  want  to  live 
here.  There  was  nothing  here  to  reward  ambition  save  gold.  Our 
mothers,  sisters,  sweethearts,  wives,  remained  in  "the  States,"  and  for 
years  we  longed  to  get  back  to  them.  And  they,  deprived  by  unjust 
and  oppressive  social  rules  of  an  equal  chance  in  the  race  of  life,  hoped 
that  we  would  come  to  give  them  our  companionship  and  assistance. 
The  affections  of  a  million  families  throughout  the  civilized  world  were 


Xvi  PREFACE. 

fixed  upon  California  by  snch  bonds.  The  sorrow  caused  by  these  sepa- 
rations— the  disappointments  that  resulted  from  many  causes— were 
great.  One  of  those  who  looked  in  vain  for  the  return  of  her  Califor- 
nian,  [Mrs.  Akers]  wrote  these  pathetic  lines : 


'  Why  don't  he  come?    He  said  the  leaves  then  springing 

At  his  return  should  still  be  fresh  and  green  ; 
How  oft  they've  sprung  and  faded  without  bringing 

His  truant  footsteps  to  his  hearth  again ! 
At  first,  there  came  soft  oft-recurring  token, 

As  if  to  save  his  memory  by  the  sign  ; 
What  need  ?    Can  they  forget,  who  bow  heart-broken 

At  Memory's  shrine  ? 


"  Why  don't  he  come  ?    Not  all  the  glittering  treasures 

That  freight  the  navies  through  the  Golden  Gate 
Can  buy  me  back  my  heart's  once  healthful  measures, 

Or  check  the  current  of  my  hastening  fate — 
Dispel  the  gloom  in  which  I  am  benighted— 

Restore  the  lost,  I  live  but  to  deplore— 
Bevive  again  my  hopes  all  dashed  and  blighted— 

For  evermore. 

"  Why  don't  he  come  ?    like  traveler  belated, 

Perhaps  he  stays  and  slumbers  by  the  way  : 
Where  was  he  faring  when  with  greed  unsated 

Death  claimed  the  weary  wanderer  as  his  prey  ? 
Did  I  but  know,  to  seek  his  nameless  ashes 

My  soul  would  garner  all  its  wasting  fires, 
Like  the  spent  taper  which  a  moment  flashes 

And  then  expires." 

None  of  the  great  battles  in  the  late  war  broke  so  many  heart-strings 
and  caused  such  wide-spread  pain,  as  did  the  Calif ornian  gold  migration ; 
but  on  the  other  hand,  scores  of  thousands  of  families  which  would  have 
otherwise  suffered  the  privations  of  life-long  poverty,  were  placed  in 
comparative  comfort  by  the  remittances  of  their  friends  in  the  mines ; 
and  that  the  general  influence  of  California  on  society  has  been  highly 
beneficial,  there  is  no  room  to  doubt. 

The  sudden  rise  of  the  gold  production  to  sixty  million  dollars  ;  the 
excitement  about  Kern  River,  Fraser  River,  Washoe,  and  White  Pine  ; 


PREFACE. 

the  Vigilance  Committee ;  the  great  fires  and  floods ;  the  development 
of  our  agriculture  and  horticulture  to  surpassing  excellence  in  some 
branches ;  the  introduction  of  the  Panama  and  river  steamers  ;  the  con- 
struction of  the  Panama  Railroad ;.  the  establishment  of  the  pony  ex- 
press, overland  stage  line,  the  trans-continental  telegraph,  and  the  trans- 
Pacific  steam  line  ;  and  last  of  all,  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  Railroad 
— all  these  have  made  epochs  in  our  lives.  In  the  consciousness  and 
memory  of  every  pioneer,  however  slight  his  importance  may  be  for 
others,  the  history  of  the  State  since  he  arrived  here  is  an  important 
part  of  his  personal  history.  Some  of  us  can  hardly  look  at  a  prominent 
land-mark,  between  Shasta  and  San  Bernardino,  without  recollecting 
that  it  is  associated  with  some  interesting  incident  of  his  personal  ex- 
perience. 

In  San  Francisco,  the  chief  port,  the  metropolis,  the  main  pleasure 
resort,  the  center  of  wealth  and  luxury  on  our  Coast,  life  could  not  be 
dull.  Existence  received  a  zest  from  the  powerfully  tonic  effect  of  the 
climate,  impelling  all  to  the  open  air  every  day,  the  excitements  of  fre- 
quent public  demonstrations,  the  stimulus  of  an  extraordinary  throng 
of  business,  the  composite  character  of  the  population  representing  every 
leading  nation  in  a  small  space,  and  the  all-prevailing  influence  of  an 
enterprising  daily  press  that  gave  expression  and  intensity  to  every 
phase  of  an  excitable  public  feeling.  The  building  of  long  wharves,  the 
cutting  down  of  high  hills,  the  filling  of  the  coves,  the  construction  of 
a  site  as  well  as  of  the  city  to  occupy  it,  were  wonders  that  never  lost 
their  interest.  For  years  our  only  communication  with  the  Atlantic 
States  and  Europe  was  by  semi-monthly  steamers,  which  in  large  in- 
stallments and  at  relatively  long  intervals  brought  us  all  our  news  and 
our  immigrants,  and  carried  away  our  gold  and  our  Californians  going 
to  visit  Eastern  friends.  The  proportion  of  the  arrivals  and  the  depart- 
ures to  the  population,  and  of  the  treasure  shipment  to  the  business, 
was  so  great,  that  steamer  day  was  a  shock  that  was  felt  throughout  the 
State.  Nearly  everything  we  consumed,  save  the  cereals,  fresh  fruits, 
fresh  meats,  and  coarse  furniture,  was  imported  from  the  North  At- 
lantic, from  which  we  were  five  months  distant ;  that  is,  we  could  not 
obtain  goods  until  five  months  after  we  ordered  them  from  here.  The 
B 


xviii  PREFACE. 

smallness  of  our  stocks  and  our  distance  from  all  large  markets  offered 
facilities  for  forestalling,  and  gave  to  mercantile  business  a  speculative 
character,  the  influence  of  which  was  felt  in  all  classes  of  society.  The 
abundance  of  money,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city,  the  wonderful  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  Washoe  silver  mines,  and  the  success  of  forestalling 
speculations,  made  many  fine  fortunes  and  stimulated  everybody  to 
aspire  after  wealth.  The  Latin  poet  longed  for  a  life  of  ease,  with 
dignity;  the  Californian  longs  for  a  life  of  speculation,  with  succeas. 
Whatever  else  may  be  said  of  the  Pioneers,  they  will  not  be  accused  of 
rusting  out. 

Nor  will  it  be  said  of  them  that  the  passion  which  drove  them  to 
incur  the  dangers,  the  privations,  and  the  toils  of  adventure  in  an  un- 
settled and  almost  unknown  country,  was  sordid.  They  risked  their 
lives  and  exerted  all  their  energies  for  gold,  but  with  no  miserly  feeling. 
They  spent  their  money  as  fast  as  they  made  it,  too  many  even  faster. 
Not  parsimony,  but  extravagance,  distinguishes  the  State.  Yet  it  is  riot 
a  base  extravagance.  Our  community  is  highly  intelligent ;  our  pleas- 
ures are  intellectual  and  refined.  Our  numerous  charities,  our  munifi- 
cent contributions  to  the  Sanitary  Fund,  our  free  schools,  our  public 
libraries,  our  frequent  concerts,  the  liberal  patronage  of  the  theaters, 
this  elegant  temple  of  the  drama  [the  California  Theater]  in  which  we 
have  to-day  assembled,  suggest  the  dominant  feelings  and  tastes  of  San 
Francisco.  Great  men  have  made  their  preferred  home  among  us,  and 
found  here  their  most  appreciative  friends.  It  was  among  us  that  Baker 
and  Starr  King  reached  their  highest  nights  of  oratory.  They  were 
with  us  in  life,  they  remain  with  us  in  death.  Grant,  Sherman,  and 
Sheridan  spent  many  of  their  best  years  in  our  State,  and  were  here 
prepared  for  the  responsible  service  to  be  performed  after  leaving  us. 
Halleck  and  Yale  have  contributed  works  of  permanent  value  to  our 
legal  literature  ;  Dwinelle,  Randolph,  and  Tuthill  have  shown  eminent 
ability  in  their  historical  labors.  Our  poetry,  our  humorous  writings, 
our  pictures,  have  done  credit  to  us  at  home  and  abroad,  though  but 
beginnings. 

The  companions  of  Cortez  in  his  conquest  of  the  Aztec  Empire — even 
the  poorest  and  most  ignorant  of  them — were  distinguished  and  pointed 


PREFACE.  V 

ate  execution,  and  sometimes  proceeded  with  a  gravity  and  slow  modera- 
tion that  might  become  the  most  august  tribunals ;  and  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  what  may  be  considered  as  a  new  nationality,  with  mental, 
literary,  physical,  and  social  characteristics  differing  from  those  of  other 
portions  of  the  American  Union,  although  not  aspiring  in  any  way  to 
political  separation. 

I  am  so  much  attached  to  California,  that  I  could  not  live  contentedly 
elsewhere  ;  and  I  imagine  that  neither  the  earth,  the  sky,  nor  the  people 
of  any  other  country,  equal  that  of  this  State.  I  confess  that  I  am  an 
enthusiast  in  her  behalf  and  if  I  fail  to  do  justice  to  her  merits  it  will 
not  be  for  lack  of  affection.  Neither  will  it  be  for  any  lack  of  attention 
or  industry.  During  the  last  twenty  years,  I  have  assiduously  collected 
every  thing  within  my  reach  relative  to  the  industry,  resources,  natural 
history,  and  population  of  the  State.  I  have  looked  through  the  news- 
papers published  between  Crescent  City  and  San  Diego,  and  have  ex- 
amined all  the  books  written  about  the  country,  Spanish,  French,  and 
German,  as  well  as  English.  I  have  been  in  the  extreme  north,  and 
the  extreme  south ;  I  have  gone  to  both  extremities  by  land  and  sea  ; 
I  have  traveled  through  her  great  interior  valley,  from  Shasta  to  Tejon  ; 
I  am  intimately  acquainted  with  her  most  fertile  valleys  and  her  most 
productive  gold-fields ;  I  know  something  of  her  mining  and  agriculture 
by  experience  and  practice ;  and  finally,  I  have  endeavored  to  compress 
into  this  book  all  the  important  attainable  facts. 

I  write  of  California  while  she  is  still  youthful,  and  full  of  marvels  ; 
while  her  population  is  still  unsettled  ;  while  her  business  is  still  fluctu- 
ating, her  wages  high,  her  gold  abundant,  and  her  birth  still  fresh  in  the 
memory  of  men  and  women  who  have  scarcely  reached  their  majority ; 
and  I  write  of  her  while  she  still  offers  a  wide  field  for  the  adventurous, 
the  enterprising,  and  the  young,  who  have  life  before  them,  and  wish  to 
commence  it  where  they  may  have  a  free  career,  in  full  sight  of  great 
rewards  for  success,  and  with  few  chances  of  failure. 

Some  passages  of  this  sixth,  as  well  as  of  previous  editions,  were  origi- 
nally written  for  other  publications,  and  though  they  first  appeared 
anonymously,  are  still  mine. 

I  add  as  appropriate  to  this  place,  and  as  indicative  of  the  feelings 


VI  PREFACE. 

common  among  the  old  Californians  towards  the  State  of  their  adoption, 
the  following  address,  which  I  delivered  before  the  Society  of  California 
Pioneers,  at  their  nineteenth  celebration  of  the  admission  of  the  State 
into  the  Union,  on  the  pth  of  September,  1869. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  meeting  again  at  this,  our  nineteenth  annual 
assemblage,  to  commemorate  the  organization  of  our  State,  and  the 
formation  of  the  nucleus  of  the  American  Empire  on  the  Pacific,  to 
revive  the  recollection  of  the  impressive  scenes  witnessed  in  the  early 
days  of  pioneer  life,  and,  if  possible,  to  give  additional  stimulus  to  our 
affection  for  California,  our  chosen  home,  to  which  we  are  bound  by  a 
multitude  of  cherished  memories,  by  soul-stirring  associations  which  no 
other  land  could  have  supplied  to  us.  The  ideas  called  up  to-day  belong, 
however,  not  exclusively  to  the  anniversary  of  the  admission  of  our 
State  into  the  Union,  and  its  attendant  incidents.  In  this  celebration 
we  cannot  overlook  the  facts  that  in  this  year  fall  the  centennial  anni- 
versaries of  the  first  white  settlement  of  California,  the  discovery  and 
naming  of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  the  first  appearance  of  white 
men  on  the  site  of  our  city.  And  this  year  has  witnessed  an  event  of 
world-wide  interest  and  of  especial  importance  to  us — the  completion  of 
the  Pacific  Railroad — forming  a  grand  climax  for  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  Californian  civilization,  that  began  with  one  of  the  lowest  and 
ends  with  one  of  the  highest  phases  of  human  society.  We  seem  to 
have  leaped  at  one  bound  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  ladder  of 
progress. 

The  first  era  of  California,  that  of  Indian  dominion  and  savage  life, 
extends  from  an  unknown  and  remote  antiquity  to  1769.  In  an  epoch 
that  belongs  not  to  history  or  tradition,  but  to  geology,  while  the  Sac- 
ramento Basin  was  a  great  lake,  while  the  higher  parts  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  were  covered  with  glaciers,  and  still  earlier,  while  numerous 
volcanoes  were  pouring  out  their  lavas  to  form  the  northern  portion  of 
the  Sierra,  men  lived  upon  its  slopes,  as  their  bones,  their  mortars,  their 
pestles,  their  spear-heads  and  arrow-heads,  then  deposited  in  deep  beds 
of  gravel,  and  of  late  brought  to  light,  bear  witness.  We  have  no  con- 
clusive evidence  that  the  Diggers  found  here  by  the  first  Spanish  ex- 
plorers, more  than  three  hundred  years  ago,  had  been  preceded  by  a  dif- 


PREFACE.  '    vii 

ferent  race.  The  tradition  that  the  Aztecs  came  from  this  Coast,  and  the 
theory  that  the  North  American  Indians  are  descendants  of  Asiatics, 
are  not  sustained  by  any  trustworthy  proof.  The  aborigines  were  not 
able  to  adapt  themselves  to  high  civilization,  and  they  are  not  repre- 
sented among  us  to-day.  They  have  left  no  art,  no  custom,  no  monu- 
ment, (except  a  few  mounds,  the  accumulation  of  shells,  bones,  coral, 
and  ashes,  around  their  rancherias)  no  original  thought,  no  recollection 
of  a  noble  deed,  no  tongue,  only  a  few  proper  names,  (such  as  Sonoma, 
Napa,  Petaluma,  Suisun,  Tuolumne,  Mokelumne,  etc.)  to  remind  us 
of  their  existence. 

The  second  era,  that  of  Spanish  dominion  and  ascetic  ideas,  lasted 
fifty- three  years,  beginning  on  the  nth  of  April,  1769,  when  the  brig 
San  Antonio  arrived  at  San  Diego  with  the  first  party  of  white  men 
who  came  to  make  a  permanent  settlement  in  what  was  then  Upper  or 
New  California,  and  is  now  simply  California.  This  settlement  was 
under  the  control  of  Franciscan  friars,  whose  purpose  was  to  convert 
the  Indians.  Some  soldiers  accompanied  the  missionaries  to  protect 
their  persons  and  property,  and  soon  a  white  lay  population  began  to 
grow  up ;  but  the  dominant  interest  was  that  of  the  friars,  and  most  of 
the  inhabitants  recognizing  Spanish  authority  were  Indian  converts. 

The  Franciscans  held  that  the  chief  virtues  of  life  were  chastity, 
celibacy,  poverty,  and  abject  humility,  and  the  chief  duties  were  fre- 
quent recitation  of  prayers,  the  mortification  of  the  flesh,  the  sacrifice 
of  the  passions,  and  the  renunciation  of  all  social  pleasures  and  secular 
interests  for  the  sake  of  beatitude  in  a  future  existence.  Twenty-one 
missions  were  founded,  none  more  than  thirty  miles  from  the  ocean  ; 
the  first  and  most  southern  at  San  IHego,  in  1769,  the  last  and  most 
northern  at  Sonoma,  in  1823. 

In  July,  1769,  a  party  under  the  supervision  of  friar  Juan  Crespi 
started  by  land  to  examine  the  coast  northward.  After  journeying  for 
three  months  among  savages  who  showed  no  hostility,  in  October  he  dis- 
covered and  named  our  bay,  reached  the  site  of  our  city,  and  here  turned 
back.  Seven  years  later  the  Mission  of  San  Francisco  was  established. 
Seven  years  hence — in  1876 — we  shall  celebrate  the  centennial  anni- 


L: 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

versary  of  the  white  settlement  of  San  Francisco,  and  also  the  centen- 
nial anniversary  of  the  independent  existence  of  our  nation. 

The  Missions  were  in  their  best  condition  in  1814,  (after  which  they 
were  injured  by  the  stoppage  of  pay  and  other  consequences  of  the  Mexi- 
can Revolution)  but  they  continued  to  increase  in  population  and  prop- 
erty until  1826,  when  they  had  24,611  Indian  neophytes,  215,000  head 
of  neat  cattle,  135,000  sheep,  and  16,000  horses,  and  harvested  75,000 
bushels  of  grain.  The  friars  of  the  ascetic  era  have  all  disappeared. 
Of  their  converts  only  a  few  hundred  remain,  and  those,  with  rare  ex- 
ceptions, no  longer  occupy  their  old  homes.  Most  of  the  Missions  have 
served  as  centers  round  which  towns  have  been  built.  Some  of  the 
adobe  churches  still  stand  as  monuments  of  the  industry  of  the  neo- 
phytes, guided  by  friar  architects.  The  oldest  building  of  our  city, 
erected  more  than  half  a  century  since,  though  lately  renovated,  is  the 
church  at  the  Mission,  dedicated  to  St.  Francis,  the  founder  of  the 
Francisc'an  Order,  the  preeminent  hero  of  asceticism,  whose  name  has 
been  adopted  by  the  San  Franciscans,  but  whose  practice  is  not  followed 
by  them,  as  the  taste,  the  fashion,  the  beauty,  the  wealth,  the  luxury 


[^represented  by  this  auditory,  may  testify. 
/  The  third  era,  that  of  Mexican  dominion  and  pastoral  life,  lasted 
twenty-four  years,  beginning  on  the  Qth  of  April,  1822,  when  the  inde- 
pendence of  Mexico  from  Spain  was  formally  proclaimed  and  first  offi- 
cially recognized  at  Monterey,  the  capital  of  the  territory.  The  white 
population  increased  slowly.  The  Mexicans  were  not  a  colonizing  peo- 
ple. The  journey  from  Sonora  by  land  was  long  and  beset  by  many  hard- 
ships and  dangers.  The  advantages  of  California  were  not  generally 
known  or  appreciated.  Most  of  the  men  who  became  prominent  under 
Mexican  dominion  were  officers  or  soldiers,  or  the  sons  of  soldiers,  se"nt 
out  to  protect  the  Missions.  Most  of  the  early  immigrants  came  at  the 
request  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  Government.  On  the  2pth  of 
November,  1777,  the  first  town  was  established  at  San  Jose"  by  a  party 
of  fourteen  families,  which  had  started  from  Sonora  two  years  before ; 
and  on  the  4th  of  November,  1781,  the  pueblo  of  Los  Angeles  was 
founded  by  another  party.  The  rancheros  and  town  people  never 
agreed  very  well  with  the  friars,  who  became  subordinate  in  influence 


PREFACE.     ^£C*UFORH\*^         IX 


to  the  military  and  civil  authorities  soon,  after  the  Mexican  flag  was 
hoisted.  The  Indians  ceased  to  obey  their  teachers,  neglected  their 
work,  and  plundered  the  Mission  property.  In  1835  the  Missions  were 
secularized — that  is,  orders  were  issued  that  part  of  the  herds  and  agri- 
cultural implements  should  be  distributed  among  the  neophytes  and 
rancheros,  and  the  remainder  should  be  disposed  of  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public  treasury ;  but  most  of  the  property  was  soon  in  the  possession 
of  the  chieftains  and  their  friends.  In  1842  only  4,500  Indians  remained 
at  the  Missions,  some  of  which  had  been  deserted  by  the  friars. 

The  Mexican  Calif ornians  lived  an  idle,  easy  life.  Their  only  income 
was  derived  from  the  hides  and  tallow  of  their  neat  cattle,  which  throve 
on  the  wild  grass  in  the  open  country.  They  had  no  work  and  little 
worry.  They  were  happy  ;  they  did  not  know  any  better.  They  had 
few  excitements,  and  many  of  them  had  no  anxieties.  Most  of  them, 
and  some  of  the  old  American  residents,  have  regretted  the  change 
which  has  since  taken  place.  From  various  miseries  of  life,  common 
elsewhere,  they  were  exempt.  They  had  no  lawyers,  doctors,  tax- 
gatherers,  or  newspapers ;  no  steamboats,  railroads,  stage  coaches,  post- 
offices,  regular  mails,  or  stove-pipe  hats.  Bedsteads,  chairs,  tables, 
wooden  floors,  and  kid  gloves,  were  rarities.  They  were  a  large,  active, 
hardy,  long-lived  race,  who  made  up  by  their  fecundity  for  the  failure 
of  the  friars  to  contribute  to  the  population  of  the  territory.  It  was 
fashionable  in  those  days  to  have  large  families.  Ignacio  Vallejo  had 
twelve  children ;  Joaquin  Carrillo,  (of  Santa  Barbara)  twelve ;  Jose 
Noriega,  ten ;  Jose  Arguello,  thirteen ;  Jose  Maria  Pico,  nine ;  Fran- 
cisco Sepulveda,  eleven ;  Jose  Maria  Ortega,  eleven  ;  and  Juan  Bandini, 
ten.  These  were  all  the  founders  of  the  large  families  of  their  respect- 
ive names,  and  in  most  cases  the  progenitors  of  all  of  their  name  in  the 
State.  In  the  second  generation  there  was  no  decline.  Nasario  Berrey- 
esa  had  eleven  children ;  Jose  Sepulveda,  twelve ;  Guadalupe  Vallejo,. 
twelve ;  Josefa  Vallejo,  eleven ;  Feliciano  Soberanes,  ten ;  and  Jose" 
Antonio  Castro,  twenty -five.  An  old  lady,  named  Juana  Cota,  died  some 
years  ago,  leaving  five  hundred  living  descendants  at  the  time  of  her 
death.  There  have  been  wonderful  changes  in  California. 


X  PREFACE. 

As  the  children  nearly  all  married,  and  the  white  families  were  not 
very  numerous,  (there  were  only  seven  hundred  ranches  or  country 
estates  in  1846)  it  happened  that  nearly  everybody  was  the  relative  of 
everybody  else  by  blood  or  marriage,  and  where  these  two  bonds  failed, 
the  spiritual  relation  of  godfather  or  godmother  supplied  the  deficiency. 
All  were  cousins  or  compadres  (co-fathers).  They  were  all  one  large 
family,  not  only  willing  but  glad  to  entertain  their  relatives,  and  glad 
to  be  entertained.  Time  with  them  was  not  money ;  knowledge  was 
not  power.  Leisure,  horses,  beef,  and  beans — the  essentials  in  those 
days  for  making  long  journeys — were  abundant,  and  so  their  life  was 
a  succession  of  paseos  and  fiestas — riding  and  feasting. 

But  the  social  good  feeling  did  not  prevent  political  troubles.  The 
Supreme  Government  at  Mexico  sent  out  carpet-bag  Governors,  who 
were  expelled.  Los  Angeles  and  Monterey,  the  North  and  the  South, 
contended  for  the  Territorial  Capital.  The  personal  interests,  the  am- 
bitions, of  the  Picos,  Carrillos,  Noriegas,  Castros,  Alvarados,  and  Val- 
lejos,  for  the  honors  and  profits  of  civil  and  military  office,  led  to  con- 
tests in  which  soldiers  were  frequently  called  out ;  but  the  revolutions 
were  not  very  bloody,  for  only  one  man  was  killed  in  them  previous  to 

1845,  and  he  by  accident.     And  yet  they  were  brave,  as  they  proved  in 
the  battle  of  San  Pascual,  when  Gen.  Kearney  narrowly  escaped  destruc- 
tion.    From  1835  to  1846  these  political  troubles  continued  to  increase 
in  seriousness,  and  many  of  the  leading  men,  having  appealed  in  vain 
to  Mexico  for  aid,  were  discussing  the  question  whether  they  should  not 
solicit  the  protection  of  England  or  the  United  States — the  predominant 
influence  being  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  latter — when  the  discussion 
was  suddenly  arrested  by  the  conquest. 

The  American  commercial  era  of  California  began  on  the  7th  of  July, 

1846,  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  permanently  hoisted  at  Monte- 
rey.   An  adventurous  Boston  boy — a  mozo  JBostones,  as  the  old  Spanish 
record  calls  him — took  up  his  residence  at  Santa  Barbara  in  1 794,  and 
John  Gilroy,  a  Scotch  sailor,  near  death,  was  allowed  to  come  ashore  at 
Monterey  in  1814;    but  with  those  exceptions  Anglo-Saxons  did  not 
begin  to  establish  themselves  in  California  until  after  the  overthrow  of 
,the  Spanish  authority  opened  the  port,*  to  foreign  vessels,  and  the  land 


PREFACE.  XI 

to  foreign  settlers.  Whalers  and  smugglers,  mostly  American,  had  for 
years  been  familiar  with  the  coast.  Boston  merchants,  engaged  in  buy- 
ing hides  and  tallow,  and  selling  cheap  calico  and  trinkets,  soon  made 
their  appearance,  and  they  were  followed  by  others  of  different  occupa- 
tions. Abel  Stearns,  Alfred  Robinson,  Henry  Mellus,  W.  D.  M.  How- 
ard, T.  O.  Larkin,  Wm.  Dana,  D.  A.  Hill,  Henry  D.  Fitch,  David 
Spence,  and  "W.  E.  P.  Hartnell,  arrived  by  sea  before  1840.  In  1825, 
thirty  trappers  under  Jedediah  Smith  crossed  the  Sierra  Nevada,  about 
latitude  thirty-nine  degrees,  and  were  the  first  white  men  to  reach  Cali- 
fornia overland  from  the  Mississippi  Valley.  They  all  went  back,  but 
the  information  which  they  circulated  induced  two  other  parties  of 
trappers  to  come  in  1827,  one  of  which  entered  the  State  at  Fort  Yuma, 
and  thus  the  middle  and  southern  trans-continental  trails  were  opened. 
Among  those  who  came  with  trapper  parties  were  Yount,  "Wolf skill, 
Workman,  Sparks,  Leese,  and  Graham.  In  1839,  Sutter  came  by  sea 
and  established  his  fort,  subsequently  an  important  center  for  American 
influence.  Workman,  after  his  first  trip  with  the  trappers,  returned  to 
New  Mexico,  where  he  had  lived,  and  induced  a  considerable  party  of 
his  friends  and  neighbors  to  come  to  this  Coast.  The  largest  migration 
from  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  came  in  1841,  and  included  the  Vaca 
and  Pena  families.  In  that  same  year,  Joseph  Chiles,  of  Missouri,  came 
to  California,  and  in  1842,  went  back  with  information  that  here  people 
could  live  without  work,  and  cattle  without  shelter  or  cultivated  food  ; 
that  fertile  land  could  be  got  by  the  league  for  nothing ;  that  it  would 
be  very  valuable  as  soon  as  it  should  be  covered  by  the  American  flag, 
and  that  annexation  was  inevitable  and  not  far  distant.  His  statements 
had  much  influence.  The  next  year  a  party,  including  Bid  well  and 
Reading,  came;  in  1844,  another;  in  1845,  another,  including  Hensley 
and  Snyder.  Those  who  came  overland,  by  their  numbers  and  skill 
with  the  rifle,  got  the  preponderance  north  of  San  Pablo  Bay ;  the  com- 
mercial immigrants  settled  on  the  southern  coast,  and  there  obtained  a 
powerful  influence  by  superior  education,  ability,  and  marriage  into  the 
leading  families.  Anglo-Saxon  husbands  were  married  to  five  Carrillos 
of  Santa  Barbara,  three  Carrillos  of  Santa  Rosa,  four  Noriegas,  four 
Bandinis,  three  Ortegas  of  Santa  Barbara,  two  Vallejos,  and  one  Sobera- 


xii  PREFACE. 

nes.  Some  of  them  were  English,  but  they  were  all  glad  of  the  change 
of  government,  and  they  induced  the  great  majority  of  the  Calif ornians 
to  submit  quietly  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  hoisted.  There 
was  some  resistance,  but  it  was  almost  hopeless  from  the  first.  The 
American  Cabinet  had  determined  to  own  California,  and  indeed  there 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that,  but  for  the  expectation  of  getting  this 
country,  they  would  not  have  taken  up  arms  when  they  did.  Soon 
after  the  first  encounter — on  the  Rio  Grande — orders  were  issued  to 
recruit  a  regiment  of  men  in  New  York  to  serve  in  California,  with  the 
understanding  that  they  should  remain  here  as  citizens  after  the  war. 
Those  only  were  to  be  received  who  would  be  suitable  settlers  for  a  new 
country.  On  the  2Qth  of  September,  1846,  they  sailed;  on  the  6th  of 
March,  of  the  next  year,  the  first  vessel  arrived  in  our  bay.  They  had 
little  military  duty  to  perform,  but  many  of  them  have  since  become 
prominent  men. 

The  gold  discovery  was  made  on  the  I9th  of  January,  1848,  a  month  be- 
fore the  treaty  of  Gruadulupe  Hidalgo  was  signed,  and  five  months  and 
a  half  before  peace  was  finally  proclaimed  and  the  American  title  to  Cali- 
fornia acknowledged  by  Mexico.  In  June  the  whole  territory  was  ex- 
cited, and  on  the  2Oth  of  September  the  first  public  notice  of  the  dis- 
covery printed  in  the  Atlantic  States,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  appeared  in 
the  Baltimore  Sun,  attracting  little  attention.  Letters  of  army  officers 
and  small  shipments  of  dust  began  to  arrive  in  November,  followed  soon 
by  fuller  and  more  favorable  accounts,  and  in  January  the  States  were 
in  a  fever.  It  was  then  that  most  of  us  determined  to  seek  our  fortunes 
in  the  distant  El  Dorado,  in  a  land  almost  unknown  to  geography,  on  an 
ocean  almost  unknown  to  commerce.  Those  near  the  Atlantic  started 
to  double  Cape  Horn  ;  those  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  cross  the  Rocky 
and  the  Snowy  mountains.  It  was  a  bold  adventure  to  go  to  a  remote 
country  of  which  we  knew  little,  to  engage  in  a  business  of  which  we 
knew  nothing.  Most  of  us,  after  getting  our  outfits,  had  no  money  left 
to  bring  us  back,  or  support  us  in  case  of  adversity.  The  amount  of 
gold  which  had  arrived  from  the  mines  was  small,  and  the  statements 
that  there  were  rich  claims  for  all  who  might  come,  were  not  justified 
by  the  knowledge  of  that  time,  though  they  were  proved  to  be  correct 


PREFACE.  XIX 

out  as  conquistador es  as  long  as  they  lived  ;  and  it  appears  to  me  that 
we  pioneers  accomplished  a  work,  different  in  many  respects  from  that 
of  Cortez,  but  not  altogether  unlike  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  under- 
taken and  the  importance  which  it  assumed.  "We  did  not  subdue  and 
plunder  the  great  empire,  but  we  founded  a  new  one,  which  already,  in 
twenty  years,  occupies  a  more  important  place  in  commerce  and  industry 
than  Mexico,  with  three  centuries  of  civilization  and  eight  millions  of 
people.  The  exploits  of  the  Mexican  conqutstadores  did  not  find  an  ap- 
propriate and  immortal  record  till  Prescott  wrote  in  our  own  time  ;  the 
adventures  and  labors  of  the  Californian  pioneers  may  go  as  long  before 
they  are  told  in  a  history  that  will  charm  men  to  the  remotest  age.  If 
I  were  a  poet  and  felt  myself  capable  of  maintaining  the  epic  flight,  I 
think  I  could  find  in  the  great  Californian  gold  discovery  and  its  results, 
a  subject  more  congenial  to  the  taste  of  this  age,  richer  in  impressive 
suggestions,  in  strange  and  romantic  incidents,  and  generally  in  the 
material  for  a  great  poem,  than  the  conquest  of  Troy  or  Jerusalem,  the 
adventures  of  Ulysses  or  Eneas. 

Much  we  have  seen,  more  we  shall  see.  Our  State  is  the  Italy  of  the 
New  World,  possessing  a  dower  of  beauty  not  inferior  to  that  of  Hie 
Latin  Peninsula  ;  but,  unlike  that,  not  destined  to  be  fatal  in  its  at- 
traction. The  descendants  of  the  Goth,  the  Vandal,  and  the  Hun,  who 
crushed  the  ancient  civilization  of  Italy  under  their  fierce  barbarism, 
of  the  German,  the  Frank,  and  the  Spaniard,  whose  favorite  battle-fields 
for  centuries  were  the  plains  of  Lombardy  and  Naples,  will  come  not  to 
contend  with  us  in  arms,  but  to  compete  with  us  in  arts.  We  shall 
gain  victories  and  celebrate  triumphs  more  numerous  and  more  glorious 
than  those  of  Republican  and  Imperial  Rome,  but  our  triumphs  will  be 
those  of  good  will — the  triumphs  of  the  architect,  the  road  builder,  the 
engineer,  the  inventor,  the  farmer,  the  miner,  the  scientist,  the  author, 
the  painter,  the  musician,  the  orator.  They  will  be  celebrated  not  by 
processions,  with  generals  riding  in  gilded  cars,  dragging  captive  kings 
in  chains,  but  by  intellectual  gatherings,  art  exhibitions,  and  industrial 
fairs.  The  highest  civilization  will  make  one  of  its  chief  centers  here. 
The  coast  valleys  from  Mendocino  to  San  Diego,  on  account  of  the  mild- 
negs  and  equability  of  their  climate,  surpassing  even  that  of  Naples,  will 


XX  PREFACE. 

be  the  favorite  place  of  residence  for  many  thousands  from  abroad. 
They  will  fill  the  land  with  wealth,  luxury,  and  art.  California  will 
occupy  in  the  hemisphere  of  the  Pacific,  as  a  focus  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture, a  position  similar  to  that  long  held  by  Attica  in  the  basin  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Looking  confidently  forward  to  such  a  result,  hoping 
to  see  much  of  it  accomplished  in  our  own  time,  let  us  endeavor  to  lay  a 
broad,  solid,  and  generous  foundation  for  the  political,  industrial,  and 
educational  greatness  of  our  State  ;  let  us  be  proud  that  we  have  taken 
part  in  a  work  which  has  contributed  much  and  will  contribute  more  to 
stimulate  commerce  and  to  extend  civilization ;  and,  as  a  consequence, 
to  enrich  and  benefit  mankind :  a  work  which  will  be  forever  prominent 
in  the  history  of  humanity. 

J.  S.  H. 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  ist,  1863. 


NDEX     OF 


HAPTERS. 


CHAPTERS.  SECTIONS,  PAGES. 

I.  TOPOGRAPHY i  to     17  i  to    13 

II.  SOCIETY 18  to    61  14  to    85 

HI.  CLIMATE 62  to    85  86  to  113 

IV.  SALUBRITY 86  to  100  114  to  139 

V.  SCENERY 101  to  118  140  to  161 

VI.  COMMERCE 119^132  162  to  181 

VII.  MANUFACTURES 133  to  147  182  to  207 

VIII.  AGRICULTURE 148  to  215  208  to  295 

IX.  MINING 216  to  258  296  to  333 

X.  GEOLOGY 259  to  279  334  to  352 

XL  BOTANY 280  to  299  353  to  374 

XII.  ZOOLOGY 300  to  346  375  to  419 

XIII.  LAW 347  to  355  420  to  426 

XIV.  TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES 356  to  363  427  to  436 

XV.  CONCLUSION 364  to  366  437  to  443 


NDEX    OF    SECTIONS. 


8zc. 
I. 
2. 

3- 
4- 


9- 

10. 
ii. 

12. 

'3- 
14. 

11: 

17- 


18. 
19. 

20. 
21. 
22. 

23- 

24. 

11 

27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31- 


TOPOGRAPHY — CHAP.  I. 

PAGE 

General  Remarks ] 

Area ] 

The  Coast  Range 5 

Coast  Rivers ; 

Coast  Lakes f 

Capes f 

Islands ( 

Bays  and  Harbors 6 

Tule  Land 6 

Sierra  Nevada 

Rivers  of  the  Sierra 

Lakes  of  the  Sierra 8 

Klamath  Basin 9 

Enclosed  American  Basin  9 

Colorado  Desert 1 1 

Counties 12 

12 


SOCIETY— CHAP.  IL 

Population 14 

Nationalities 15 

Occupations  and  Sexes  . .  I 

Other  Classes I 

Decline  of  Mining  Coun- 
ties   17 

Cosmopolitanism 1 8 

State  Pride 19 

Hospitality 20 

Luxurious  Living 21 

Social  Equality 21 

Physical  Characteristics .  24 

Publicity  of  Life 27 

Education 28 

Literature 29 

Art 29 


SEC. 
33- 
34- 
35- 
36- 


39- 

40. 
41. 
42. 
43- 
44- 
45- 
46. 


lo9: 

61. 


67. 


PAGE. 

Religion 30 

Deeds  of  Blood 32 

Dialect 35 

Calif ornianisms 35 

Spanish  Californians 39 

Chinese 40 

Indians' 48 

Mining  Towns 56 

Inland  Ports 57 

Railroad  Towns..- 57 

San  Francisco j$ 

Sacramento 64 

Oakland 67 

San  Jos£  and  Santa  Clara  69 

Stockton 70 

Vallejo  and  Carquinez..  71 

Los  Angeles 74 

San  Diego 78 

Anaheim 79 

Santa  Barbara 80 

Petaluma 80 

Grass  Valley 81 

Marysville 81 

Visalia 82 

Suisun 83 

Yreka 83 

Napa 84 

Crescent  City 84 

Humboldt  Bay  Towns  . .  85 

CLIMATE — CHAP.  HE. 

Main  Features 86 

Many  Climates 87 

Sea  Breeze 87 

Middle  Coast 88 

San  Francisco 90 

Hot  Days 92 


XXVI 


INDEX   OP   SECTIONS. 


SEC. 
68. 
69. 

70. 

71- 
72. 

73- 
74- 


77- 

78. 

79- 
80 
81. 
82. 

83- 
84. 
85. 


86. 
87. 


90. 
91. 
92. 

93- 
94. 

II: 


99- 
100. 


101. 
102. 
103. 
IO4. 
105. 

106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
no. 
III. 


PAGE.lSEC. 

Sunrise  and  Noon 94  1 12. 

Cold  Days 94|n3- 

San  Francisco  Fogs 95!  1 14. 

January  and  July 96;  1 1 5. 

Monthly  Means 98  1 1 6. 

Clear  Days 99  117. 

Sirocco 99  1 18. 

Interior  Basins 101 

Rain IO2 

Railroad  Rain  Table 103 

State  Rains  for  Twenty- 
three  Years 104 

Monthly  Table,  1849-73.  Io6 

Drought  and  Flood 109 

Dryness  of  Air 109 

Length  of  Days 1 1 1 

Thunder  Storms ill 

Hail 112 

Sand  Storms 1 12 


SALUBRITY — CHAP.  IV. 

Healthy  Growth 114 

Infant  Mortality 1 1 6 

Malaria 119 

Consumption 120 

State  Mortality  Table. . .  123 

Prevalent  Diseases 125 

Mineral  Waters 125 

Health  Resorts 128 

San  Rafael  and  St.  Helena  129 

Santa  Barbara 130 

San  Diego 131 

Klamath  Valley 133 

Earthquakes 133 

Their  Frequency 13 i 

List  of  Earthquakes I3< 

SCENERY— CHAP.  V. 

Introductory 140 

Yosemite.  . ." 140 

Opinions  of  Tourists....  141 

The  Leading  Features..  142 

Cascades  of  Rockets 145 

Vegetation,  etc 146 

Formation  of  the  Valley .  146 

Hetchhetchy 147 

Big  Tree  Groves 147 

Mountain  Peaks 149 

San  Francisco  and  Vicin- 
ity   153 


PACK. 

Geysers 155 

Petrified  Forest 156 

Waterfalls 157 

Natural  Bridges 158 

Caves 158 

Mirage 159 

Mud  Volcanoes 160 

COMMERCE — CHAP.  VI. 

Situation 1 62 

Volume  of  Business 163 

Shipping 164 

Currency 164 

Wealth  of  the  State 165 

Mining  Stocks 166 

Large  Estates 169 

Railroads 1 70 

Railroad  Terminus 173 

Ocean  Steamers 174 

Telegraphs 175 

Harbors 176 

Navigable  Streams 1 79 

.  180 


119. 

I2O. 
121. 
1-22. 
123. 

124. 
125. 

127. 
128. 
129. 
130. 

!3r- 
I32. 


MANUFACTURES — CHAP.  VII. 

133.  Coarse  Work 182 

134.  Obstacles 183 

135.  Statistics 184 

136.  Wages 185 

137.  Navy  Yard 187 

138.  Lumbering 189 

139.  Cod  Fishery 190 

140.  Salmon  Fishery 193 

141.  Various  Sea  Fish 195 

142.  Hunting 198 

143.  House-building 201 

144.  Turpentine,  etc 202 

145.  Silk 204 

146.  Sulphur  and  Salt 204 

147.  Beet  Sugar 206 

AGRICULTURE — CHAP.  VHL 

148.  Statistics 208 

149.  Colorado  Desert  Valleys.   209 

150.  Valleys  of  the   Enclosed 

Basin 209 

151.  Coast  Valleys 210 

152.  San  Francisco  Basin 213 


INDEX   OF   SECTIONS. 


XXV11 


SEC. 


154. 


160. 
161. 
162. 
163. 
164. 
165- 
166. 
167. 
168. 
169. 
170. 
171. 
172. 

173- 
174. 


176. 

177- 
178. 
179. 
1  80. 
181. 
182. 
183- 
184. 
185. 
1  86. 
187. 
188. 
189. 
190. 
191. 
192. 

193- 
194. 

195- 
196. 
197. 
198. 
199. 
200. 

2OI. 
202. 


PAGE. 
Sacramento-San  Joaquin 

Valley 215 

Farming  Advantages 215 

Disadvantages 217 

Droughts 218 

Fences   219  2 

Varieties  of  Wheat 22 1 

Quality 222 

Yield 226 

228 


231 
232 
232 
233 

234 


Cost 

Barley 

Oats 

Maize 

Potatoes 

Hay 

Hops 

Tobacco 235 

Cotton 237 

Kitchen  Vegetables 237 

Fruit 239 

Abundance  of  Fruit 242 

Grapes 242 

Large    Vines   and    Vine- 

T    7ards 243 

Varieties 244 

Advantages 247 

Vine-planting 

Wine  Yield 

Wine-making 251 

Fermentation  252 

Kinds  of  Wine 

Defects  of  our  Wine 

Sparkling   California 257 

Apples 258 

Peaches 

Pears 

Apricots  and  Plums 261 

Olives 261 

Oranges 262 

Berries 263 

Ornamental  Gardens 264 

Arboriculture ...   266 

Pests  of  the  Farmer 266 

Irrigation 268 

Reclamation 271 

Products  of  our  Herds 

Sheep 272 

Neat  Cattle 276 

Spanish  Cattle 276 

Rodeos  278 

Brands  2 

Early  Maturity 282 


SEC.  PAGE. 

203.  Corral  and  Reata 283 

204.  Occasional  Starvation  .  . .  284 

Fine  Blood 284 

Pasture 285 

207.     Butter 285 

08.     Cheese 286 

209.  Horses 287 

210.  Mules 289 

211.  Swine 290 

212.  Angora  Goats 290 

229213.     Poultry 291 

214.  Bees 291 

215.  Sericulture 294 

MINING — CHAP.  IX. 

216.  Mining  Products 296 

217.  Number  of  Gold  Miners .   296 

218.  Profit    of  Gold  Mining ..  298 

219.  Gold  Yield 299 

220.  Gold  Mines 299 

221.  Placers 300 

222.  Ditches 302 

223.  Flumes 303 

224.  Iron  Pipe 304 

225.  Expensive  Construction  .   305 
248  226.  Measurement  of  Water . .   306 
250  227.     Cleaning  Up 307 

228.  Riffle-bars 308 

229.  Double  Sluices 308 

254  230.     Rock  Sluices 308 

255  231.  Hydraulic  Washing  ....   309 

232.  Ground  Sluices 312 

233.  Cradle 313 

260  234.     Sluice 313 

260235.     Pan 314 

236.  Dry  Washing 315 

237.  Puddling  Box 315 

238.  Tunnel  Claims 316 

239.  Shafts 317 

240.  River  Mining 317 

241.  Beach  Mining 317 

242.  Placer  Prospecting 319 

243.  Quartz  Mining 320 

244.  Prospecting  for  Quartz . .   320 
272  245.  Quartz  Mining  as  a  Busi- 
ness     322 

246.  Rich  Mines 323 

247.  Extraction 325 

248.  Pulverization 326 

249.  Arrastra 326 

250.  Amalgamation 327 


xxvm 


INDEX   OP   SECTIONS. 


SEC. 
25L 
252. 

253- 
254- 
255. 
256. 

257- 
258. 


260. 

261. 
262. 

263. 

264. 

265. 
266. 

268! 

269. 
270. 
271. 
272. 

273- 
274. 
275. 

276. 

277. 
278. 

279- 


280. 
281. 
282. 

£ 

& 

287. 
288. 
289. 

290. 
291. 
292. 

293. 
294. 


PAGE.  SEC. 


Concentration 327 

Chlorination 32 

Quicksilver 32 


330  299, 


Sulphur 332 

Borax 332 

Hydraulic  Cement 332 

Coal 333 

GEOLOGY— CHAP.  X. 

Plutonic  and  Secondary.  334 

Tertiary 334 

Volcanic 335 

Extinct  Volcanoes 336 

Gold-bearing  Rocks 336 

Placers 337 

Dead  Rivers 338 

Dead  Blue  River 338 

Fineness  of  Gold 341 

Silver 342 

Quicksilver 342 

Platina 342 

Other  Metals 343 

Limestone 343 

Coal 343 

Asphaltum 344 

Miscellaneous  Minerals . .  345 

Water 347 

Artesian  Wells 347 

Palaeontology 349 

Post-Pliocene  Man 350 

BOTANY — CHAP.  XI. 

Fauna  and  Flora 353 

Big  Tree. 354 

Redwood 355 

Pines 356 

Firs 

Cedar  and  Cyprus.  . . 

Nutmeg 361 

Laurel 361 

Madrona 361 

Manzanita 362 

Oaks. 362 

Sycamore,  etc 364 

Poison  Oak 365 

Various  Plants 367 

Nutritious  Herbage 368 

Flowers 370  343. 


296. 
297. 
298. 


300. 
301. 
302. 
303- 

3°4- 
305- 
306. 

307- 
308. 

3°9- 
310. 

3"- 
312. 


316. 
7. 

318. 
319- 
320. 
321. 
322. 
323- 
324. 


& 

329- 
33°- 
33'- 

359  332- 

360  333- 
334- 
335- 

337- 
338. 
339- 
340. 

342. 


PA.GB. 

Desert  Vegetation 372 

Swamp  Vegetation 373 

Marine  Vegetation 373 

Alpine  Vegetation 373 

ZOOLOGY — CHAP.  XEL 

General  List 375 

Bears 375 

Felines 378 

Canines 379 

Badgers,  etc 381 

Squirrels 382 

Spermophiles 384 

Gophers 386 

Rats  387 

Deer   387 

Hare 390 

Sea-Lions ,  391 

Otter,  etc 392 

Vultures 394 

Eagles 396 

Owls 396 

Roadrunners 397 

Woodpeckers 398 

Humming-Birds 399 

Fly-Catchers 400 

Singers 400 

Scratchers 401 

Waders 404 

Swimmers 405 

Fishes 407 

Salmon 407 

Halibut 409 

Turbot 409 

Sole 409 

Mackerel 410 

Rock-Fish 410 

Sturgeon   410 

Jew-Fish  41 1 

Sun-Fish 41 1 

Green-Fish 411 

Sea-Bass 412 

Sheepshead 412 

Smelt 412 

Anchovy  412 

Sardine  and  Herring  ....  413 

Viviparous  Fishes 413 

Flying-Fish 413 

Fresh-Water  Fishes 414 

Reptiles 414 


INDEX   OF   SECTIONS. 


XXIX 


SEC. 
344- 
345- 
346. 


IS 

349- 
35°- 
351- 
352. 
353- 
354- 
355- 


PAGE. 

Honey-De-w  Aphis 417 

Shell-Fish 417  SEO 

Shipworm 418  356 


LAW— CHAP.  XHI. 


Constitution 420 

Marriage 42 1 

Iiiheritance 422 

Conveyance  of  Land 422 

Tenure  of  Land 423 

Separate  Property 424 

Mining  Claims 424 

Titles  to  Mines 425 

Laws  favorable  to  Debtors  425  3 


TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES  —  CHAP. 
XTV. 

PAGE. 

New  Names 427 

357.     Sacred  Spanish  Names ...  427 
Profane  Spanish  Names. .  429 

Indian  Names   431 

American  Names 431 

Etymology  of  California  434 
Pronunciation  of  Names .  434 
Erroneous  Spelling 436 

CONCLUSION — CHAP.  XV. 


358- 
359- 
360. 

361. 
362. 
363- 


364.  General  Summary 437 

365.  Slow  Growth 442 

366.  The  Future 442 


of 


JflESOUI\CES    OF 


CHAPTER  I. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 

§  1.  General  Remarks. — CALIFORNIA  has  a  peculiar  topo- 
graphy. No  other  country  comprises  within  so  small  a  space 
such  various,  so  many,  and  such  strongly-marked  natural  di- 
visions, isolated  volcanic  peaks,  vast  domes  of  granite,  steep 
and  rugged  mountain  ridges,  fertile  and  beautiful  valleys, 
bare  deserts,  spacious  bays,  magnificent  rivers,  unparalleled 
waterfalls,  picturesque  lakes,  extensive  marshes,  broad  prairies, 
and  dense  forests — all  these  are  hers. 

§  2.  Area. — The  reports  of  the  Federal  Land  Office,  pub- 
lished at  Washington,  say  the  area  of  the  State  is  188,981 
square  miles ;  but  J.  H.  Wildes,  chief  draughtsman  in  the 
office  of  the  Federal  Surveyor-General  of  California,  a  more 
trustworthy  authority,  says  the  nearest  approximation  that 
can  now  be  made  is  155,000  square  miles,  or  99,200,000  acres. 

The  State  extends  from  latitude  32°  31'  59"— that  is  the 
position  of  the  monument  marking  the  southwestern  corner  of 
the  State,  on  the  boundary  of  Lower  California — to  42°.  The 
coast  line  is  1,097  miles  long.  In  general  shape,  California  is 
a  long  parallelogram,  800  miles  in  length  by  190  in  width. 
1 


2  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  first  topographical  division  of  the  State  may  be  into  the 
Coast  and  Interior  districts,  separated  from  each  other  by  the 
main  ridge  of  the  Coast  Mountains,  which  runs  the  whole 
length  of  the  State,  nearly  parallel  with  the  ocean,  and  about 
fifty  miles  from  it.  The  Coast  district  may  be  subdivided 
into  the  Coast  Mountains  and  the  Coast  Valleys.  The  Inter- 
ior district  may  be  subdivided  into  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the 
Sacramento- San  Joaquin  Basin,  the  IZlamath  Basin,  the 
Enclosed  American  Basin,  and  the  Colorado  Desert. 

Of  the  155,000  square  miles  in  the  State,  there  are,  at  my 
estimate,  42,000  in  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  the  Coast, 
40,000  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  30,000  in  the  low  land  of  the 
Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Basin,  20,000  in  the  Enclosed  Amer- 
ican Basin,  15,000  in  the  Colorado  Desert,  and  8,000  in  the 
Klamath  Basin.  In  the  42,000  square  miles  of  the  Coast 
slope,  16,000  may  be  put  down  as  valley  and  26,000  as  moun- 
tain. The  term  "  Basin,"  as  used  here,  means  the  entire  area 
with  a  common  drainage.  Thus,  the  San  Joaquin  Basin  is  the 
region  between  summits  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Coast 
Range,  south  of  latitude  38°  20' ;  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin 
Basin  is  all  between  the  summits  of  those  mountains,  from 
Tejon  to  Mount  Shasta. 

§  3.  The  Coast  Range. — The  Coast  Range,  though  not  so 
high  or  so  wide  as  the  Sierra  Nevada,  may  be  considered  the 
main  orographical  feature  of  California,  because  it  alone  ex- 
tends through  the  whole  length  of  the  State.  Its  height  is 
from  two  thousand  to  six  thousand  feet ;  its  width  from  twenty 
to  forty  miles.  It  is  composed  of  a  multitude  of  ridges,  of 
which  the  Diablo  Ridge  is  the  main  stern,  while  all  the 
others  are  branches  springing  out  to  the  westward.  We  find 
on  the  map,  that  in  latitude  34°  20'  the  Santa  Susanna 
Ridge  branches  off  and  runs  southwestward ;  in  34°  30'  the 
Santa  Inez  Ridge  starts  and  runs  westward ;  in  34°  40'  the 
Santa  Barbara  Ridge  turns  west  northwest ;  the  Santa  Lucia 
Ridge  separates  from  the  main  trunk  in  35°,  with  a  north- 


TOPOGRAPHY.  8 

westward  direction ;  the  Gabilan  Ridge  has  its  origin  in 
36°  10',  and  its  course  is  north  northwest ;  the  Contra  Costa 
Ridge  appears  in  37°  10',  and  is  parallel  with  the  Gabilan. 
These  ridges  and  their  intervening  valleys  make  up  the  entire 
slope  between  the  summit  of  the  Coast  Range  and  the  ocean, 
from  34°  20'  to  38°  30',  beyond  which  line  the  regularity  of 
the  formation  ceases,  and  the  valleys  are  small  and  crooked. 
The  Contra  Costa  Ridge  forms  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
Alameda  plain,  and  separates  Napa  from  Sonoma  Valley. 
The  Gabilan  Ridge,  named  after  a  prominent  peak,  the  Gabi- 
lan, in  Monterey  County,  forms  the  backbone  of  San  Mateo, 
San  Francisco,  and  Marin  Counties,  and  separates  the  Santa 
Clara  from  the  Salinas  Valleys.  The  valleys  south  of  the  Sa- 
linas are  the  Cuvama,  Santa  Inez,  and  the  Saticoy  (or  Santa 
Clara  of  the  South).  The  principal  peaks  of  the  Coast  Range, 
including  San  Bernardino,  are  in  the  Diablo  Ridge. 

§  4.  Coast  JRivers. — The  rivers  of  the  Coast  Mountains 
have  necessarily  but  a  short  course.  Those  south  of  the  bay 
of  San  Francisco  are  the  San  Lorenzo,  Pajaro,  Salinas,  Cu- 
yama, Santa  Inez,  Saticoy  (or  Santa  Clara),  Los  Angeles,  San 
Gabriel,  Santa  Ana,  Saata  Margarita,  San  Luis  Rey,  San 
Dieguito,  and  San  Diego.  Some  of  these  are  large  streams  in 
wet  winters  ;  but,  in  the  drought  of  autumn,  all  those  south 
of  the  Salinas  are  swallowed  up  in  the  sands  before  reaching 
the  ocean.  Most  of  them  are  constant  streams  to  within  ten 
or  fifteen  miles  of  their  mouths.  The  Santa  Ana,  the  largest 
river  on  the  southern  coast,  rises  in  Mount  San  Bernardino, 
and  is  in  its  meanderings  nearly  one  hundred  miles  long ;  yet 
only  in  very  wet  seasons,  once  in  six  or  eight  years,  succeeds 
in  getting  to  the  sea.  The  San  Gabriel  River  sinks  before 
reaching  Monte,  in  Los  Angeles  County,  and,  after  passing 
three  miles  under  ground,  rises  again.  The  intervening  space, 
where  there  is  no  river,  is  very  moist,  sandy  ground,  through 
which  the  water  spreads  and  soaks. 

W.  H.  Emory,  in  his  report  as  member  of  the  Mexican 
Boundary  Commission,  writes  thus  : 


4  RESOURCES    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

"  The  point  at  which  water  ceases  to  flow  is  quite  variable  ; 
its  more  usual  upward  limit  being  marked  at  or  near  the  pas- 
sage of  the  stream  from  the  first  rocky  ranges  into  the  tertiary 
formation.  The  point,  however,  as  before  stated,  is  by  no 
means  a  fixed  one  :  thus,  during  the  night  it  extends  farther 
downward  than  in  daytime  ;  in  cloudy  weather,  for  the  same 
reason,  its  course  is  more  prolonged  than  under  a  clear  sky. 
In  the  stream-beds  themselves,  however  dry,  water  is  gener- 
ally found  a  short  distance  below  the  surface. 

"  The  descent  of  these  streams  in  the  rainy  season  may  be 
either  a  gradual  process  in  the  progressive  saturation  of  their 
sandy  beds,  or,  the  saturation  being  accomplished  by  previous 
showers,  the  irruption  may  be  sudden.  A  fine  example  of  this 
sudden  appearance  was  observed  in  the  San  Diego  River,  in 
December,  1849  ;  when,  after  a  rainy  night,  by  which  its  sandy 
bed  was  completely  saturated,  the  upper  stream,  suddenly  ap- 
peared in  the  form  of  a  foaming  body  of  water,  moving  on- 
ward at  the  rate  of  a  fast  walk,  curling  round  the  river-bends, 
absorbing  the  pools,  and  soon  filling  its  bed  with  a  brimming, 
swift  current.  An  instance  of  the  more  gradual  descent  was 
seen  in  the  following  season,  (December,  1850)  when,  from 
the  absence  of  local  rain,  its  downward  progress  was  slow  and 
interrupted." 

The  only  navigable  stream  south  of  San  Francisco  Bay  is 
the  Salinas,  and  that  but  for  small  vessels,  and  near  its  mouth. 

North  of  San  Francisco  the  main  streams  rising  in  the  Coast 
Mountains  are  the  Russian,  Eel,  Elk,  Mad,  and  Smith  Rivers, 
all  permanent,  but  none  navigable. 

The  rivers  north  of  the  Golden  Gate  are  sometimes  closed 
up  with  sand  thrown  across  their  mouths  by  storms  from  the 
south,  and  these  barriers  may  remain  for  days,  the  waters 
meantime  finding  their  way  through  by  percolation.  The 
Klamath,  the  largest  of  these  streams,  has  occasionally  been 
accessible  for  vessels  of  deep  draft,  but  as  the  sands  frequently 
shift  their  position,  the  idea  of  obtaining  a  permanent  or  con- 


TOPOGRAPHY.  5 

venient  harbor  there  has  been  abandoned,  at  least  for  the 
present  generation. 

§  5.  Coast  Lakes. — The  only  large  lake  in  the  Coast  dis- 
trict is  Clear  Lake,  eighty  miles  northward  from  San  Fran- 
cisco. It  is  twenty  miles  long,  and  varies  in  breadtk  from 
two  to  ten  miles.  Surrounded  by  a  small  valley  of  fertile 
land,  it  lies  in  a  deep  basin  bounded  by  high  mountains,  with 
an  outlet  to  the  eastward,  where  its  surplus  waters  are  carried 
off  by  Cache  Creek  to  the  Sacramento.  The  water  of  Clear 
Lake  is  limpid ;  the  vegetation  on  its  banks  abundant  and  vig- 
orous ;  the  scenery  beautiful  and  romantic.  In  Amador  Val- 
ley, twenty-five  miles  eastward  from  San  Francisco,  there  is  a 
small  lake,  covering  a  couple  of  hundred  acres,  and  Soap 
lake,  of  about  equal  size,  in  Pajaro  Valley.  Lake  Elizabeth, 
forty-five  miles  northward  from  Los  Angeles,  and  Alamo  Lake, 
in  San  Diego  County,  occasionally  dry  up,  and  then,  after  wet 
winters,  reappear. 

§  6.  Gapes. — California  has  two  capes :  Cape  Mendocino, 
in  40°  25';  and  Point  Argiiello,  in  34°  25'.  The  former  is 
reputed  to  be  the  stormiest  place  on  our  coast ;  the  latter  is 
the  southern  limit  of  the  frequent  cold  fogs  and  cool  sum- 
mers. Near  Point  Arguello,  but  less  prominent,  is  Point  Con- 
ception, which,  however,  is  frequently  mentioned  as  the  main 
cape  at  the  bend  of  the  State. 

§  7.  Islands. — About  forty  miles  westward  from  San  Fran- 
cisco are  the  Farallones,  seven  little  islands  of  bare  rock,  the 
largest  with  an  extent  of  a  couple  of  acres,  and  of  no  signifi- 
cance save  as  a  danger  to  shipping,  and  as  a  point  where  a 
large  lighthouse  is  maintained.  All  the  other  islands  of  Cali- 
fornia are  between  32°  50'  and  34°  10',  the  farthest  one  being 
about  sixty  miles  from  the  mainland.  They  are  named  Santa 
Cruz,  Santa  Catalina,  San  Clemente,  Santa  Rosa,  San  Nico- 
las, Anacapa,  and  Santa  Barbara.  They  are  all  hilly,  rocky, 
barren,  and  of  little  value.  Santa  Cruz,  the  largest  and  best 
of  them,  has  good  water  and  a  few  trees.  It  is  twenty-one 


6  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

miles  long,  with  an  average  width  of  about  three  miles.  All 
these  islands  appear  to  be  peaks  of  submerged  mountain- 
ridges.  Between  them  and  the  mainland  lies  the  Santa  Bar- 
bara Channel. 

§  8:  Bays  and  Harbors. — California  has  four  land-locked 
bays — Humboldt,  Tomales,  San  Francisco,  and  San  Diego,  all 
of  them  long,  narrow,  and  separated  from  the  ocean  by  narrow 
peninsulas,  their  longer  axes  being  parallel  with  the  coast. 
The  roadsteads  are  numerous.  Further  mention  is  made  of 
them  in  the  chapter  on  commerce. 

§  9.  Tale-Land. — Along  the  borders  of  most  of  the  bays, 
the  Tulare  and  Kern  Lakes,  and  the  Sacramento  and  San 
Joaquin  Rivers,  there  are  extensive  tracts  of  swamp-lands, 
usually  called  "  tule-lands,"  from  the  tule,  a  species  of  rush, 
which  grows  on  them.  Nearly  all  the  tule-land  west  of  Sac- 
ramento and  Stockton,  to  which  points  the  tides  extend,  are 
salt  marshes;  but  north  of  Sacramento  and  south  of  Stockton 
the  tule-lands  are  fresh-water  swamps.  The  area  of  the  tule- 
land  is  estimated  to  be  3,000,000  acres. 

§  10.  Sierra  Nevada.— The  Sierra  Nevada  is  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  long  (in  California)  and  seventy  wide,  with  a  height 
varying  from  live  thousand  to  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  sea- 
level.  Nearly  its  whole  width  is  occupied  with  its  western 
slope,  which  descends  to  a  level  of  three  hundred  feet  above 
the  ocean ;  whereas  the  slope  on  the  eastern  side  is  only  five 
or  six  miles  wide,  and  terminates  in  the  Great  Basin,  which  is 
itself  from  four  thousand  to  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
Nearly  all  the  snows  and  rains  that  visit  the  Sierra  Nevada  fall 
on  its  western  slope,  which  has  all  the  large  rivers.  These 
rivers  run  westward,  at  right  angles  to  the  course  of  the  chain, 
and  cut  it  into  steep  hills  and  deep  ravines,  canons,  and  chasms. 
The  valleys  are  all  small,  and  it  is  rare  to  see  a  hundred  acres 
of  level,  tillable  land,  even  on  the  banks  of  the  largest  moun- 
tain streams.  The  greater  part  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  is  cov- 
ered with  timber.  The  oak,  manzanita,  and  nut-pine  grow  to 


.     TOPOGRAPHY.  7 

about  twenty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea ;  and  then  the 
coniferous  trees  appear,  and  are  found  in  dense  forests  to  a 
height  of  six  thousand  feet. 

§  11.  Rivers  of  the  Sierra. — The  low  land  of  the  Sacra- 
mento  basin,  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Coast  Mountains 
and  on  the  east  by  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which  ranges  meet  both 
at  the  north  and  the  south,  is  the  heart  of  the  State,  four  hun- 
dred miles  long  by  fifty  wide,  reaching  from  latitude  35°  to 
40°  30'.  It  is  drained  by  two  rivers :  the  Sacramento,  run- 
ning from  the  north  ;  and  the  San  Joaquin,  from  the  south. 
They  meet  and  unite  in  the  center  of  the  basin,  at  38°,  and 
break  through  the  Coast  range  to  the  Pacific,  forming,  the 
bays  of  Suisun,  San  Pablo,  and  San  Francisco,  on  their  way. 
The  valley  is  nearly  level,  and  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea  at  the  junction  of  the  rivers,  and  two  hundred  feet 
higher  where  they  issue  from  the  mountains.  Part  of  the  Sac- 
ramento Valley  shows  terraces,  the  farthest  from  the  river  being 
a  coarse  gravel.  The  richest  soil  is  on  the  immediate  bank. 
The  great  body  of  the  valley  is  bare  of  trees.  Its  even  surface 
is  broken  in  only  one  place,  by  the  "  Buttes,"  a  range  of  vol- 
canic hills,  six  miles  wide  by  twelve  long,  with  three  peaks, 
about  two  thousand  feet  high,  which  rise  in  lonely  abruptness 
from  the  middle  of  the  plain,  in  39°  20'.  The  general  course 
of  the  two  main  rivers  of  the  basin  lies  nearly  midway  between 
the  two  mountain  chains,  but  almost  all  their  tributaries  come 
from  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which,  like  the  Coast  Range,  has 
most  of  its  wealth  on  its  western  slope.  In  the  four  hundred 
miles  from  Tejon  to  Shasta,  there  are  a  dozen  creeks  marked 
on  the  map  as  flowing  eastward  from  the  Coast  Range  to  the 
San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  ;  but  during  the  summer,  three- 
fourths  of  them  are  swallowed  up  in  the  sands  before  reaching 
their  mouths.  Not  one  south  of  38°  is  a  permanent  stream. 
From  the  Sierra  Nevada  a  number  of  rivers  run  westward. 
Beginning  at  the  north,  we  have  the  Pit,  Feather,  Yuba, 
American,  Cosumnes,  Mokelumne,  Calaveras,  Stanislaus, 


8  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Tuolumne,  Merced,  San  Joaquin,  King's,  White,  and  Kern 
Rivers — all  of  them  considerable  streams,  though  others  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  basin  are  swallowed  up  in  the  sands 
in  the  dry  seasons,  before  reaching  their  mouths.  The  San 
Joaquin  River  does  not  rise  at  the  extreme  southern  end  of 
the  basin,  but  one  hundred  miles  northward  from  it,  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  After  running  westward  to  the  middle  of  the 
valley,  it  turns  northward.  From  its  bend  southward,  the 
valley  discharges  no  water  to  the  ocean  during  the  summer ; 
but  in  wet  winters  there  are  continuous  sloughs,  or  pieces  of 
marsh-like  ground,  from  the  Tejon  to  the  San  Joaquin.  In 
the  dry  season,  no  channel  is  visible  for  the  escape  of  the 
waters  of  Tulare  and  Kern  Lakes. 

The  rivers  flowing  down  from  the  Sierra  Nevada  are  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  long  on  an  average,  following 
their  courses.  The  upper  half  of  their  length  is  in  the  moun- 
tains, where  they  are  torrents,  falling  five  thousand  feet  in 
fifty  miles.  Their  beds  are  in  deep  canons  ;  after  reaching  the 
plain  their  currents  are  gentle,  and  they  meander  between  low 
banks,  fringed  with  oaks,  sycamores,  cottonwood,  and  willows. 
In  the  southern  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  basin  there  are  several 
large  streams,  which,  soon  after  issuing  from  the  mountains, 
divide  into  a  number  of  channels,  as  do  some  large  rivers 
which  have  deltas  near  their  entrance  to  the  sea.  King's 
River,  which  is  about  eighty  yards  wide  where  it  leaves  the 
mountains,  divides  into  seven  or  eight  channels,  which  all 
unite  again.  The  Cahuilla  (Kaweah,  or  Pipiyuma)  River,  also 
a  large  stream,  divides  into  a  number  of  channels,  which  irri- 
gate "  the  Four-Creek  country,"  and  render  it  one  of  the  most 
fertile  parts  of  the  State. 

§  12.  Lakes  of  the  Sierra. — The  Sierra  Nevada  has  few 
lakes.  The  most  notable  one  is  Lake  Tahoe  or  Bigler,  about 
twenty  miles  long  and  ten  wide,  and  six  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  in  latitude  39°,  and  on  the  eastern  border 
of  the  State.  Part  of  the  lake  is  in  Nevada,  and  its  waters 


TOPOGRAPHY.  9 

flow  eastward  into  Tnickee  River.  In  the  eastern  part  of  Ne- 
vada County  there  is  a  group  of  two  dozen  lakes,  called  the 
Eureka  Lakes,  the  largest  of  which  is  three  miles  long  and 
a  mile  wide.  In  Calaveras  County  near  the  summit  there  is 
a  cluster  called  the  Blue  Lakes. 

§  13.  Klamath  Hasin.— North  of  latitude  41°  lies  the  ba- 
sin of  the  Klamath  River,  which  rises  in  Oregon,  crosses  the 
Californian  line,  about  eighty  miles  from  the  sea,  then  turns 
south  west  ward,  and,  after  a  course  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  empties  into  the  Pacific  in  41°  33'.  The  basin  of 
the  Klamath  is  very  rugged,  particularly  that  part  of  it  within 
forty  miles  of  the  ocean.  Along  the  main  river  there  is  no 
valley,  or  bottom-land ;  its  whole  length  is  between  steep  hills 
and  mountains,  and  through  rocky  canons.  Its  largest  tribu- 
taries, the  Trinity  and  Salmon,  run  through  a  country  almost 
as  rugged  as  that  bordering  the  main  stream.  Scott  and  Shasta 
Rivers,  which  are  the  only  other  notable  tributaries  of  the 
Klamath — they  all  flow  from  the  southward — have  valleys  of 
bottom-land,  about  five  miles  wide  and  forty  long. 

§  14.  Enclosed  American  JSasin. — A  prominent  feature  of 
the  North  American  Continent  is  the  Enclosed  American  Ba- 
sin, a  triangular  district  of  country,  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  basin  of  the  Columbia,  on  the  east  and  southeast  by  the 
basin  of  the  Colorado,  and  on  the  southwest  by  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada and  Coast  Range.  This  Great  Basin — an  elevated  tract 
of  land,  most  of  which  is  four  thousand  or  five  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  mountainous,  barren,  and  cheerless,  with 
no  outlet  for  its  waters — extends  into  this  State,  taking  a  strip 
along  the  eastern  border  from  34°  to  42°.  The  California 
portion  of  the  Enclosed  Basin  is  one  of  the  driest  and  most 
sterile  parts  of  the  earth's  surface,  cut  up  by  numerous  irreg- 
ular ridges  of  bare,  rocky  mountains,  with  intervening  valleys 
of  sand  and  volcanic  scoriae,  and  occasional  springs  and  little 
streams  which  terminate  in  lakes,  presenting  a  wide  extent  of 
muddy  salt  water  after  heavy  rains,  and  in  the  dry  season 


10  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

wide  beds  of  dried  and  cracked  mud,  covered  with  a  white 
alkaline  efflorescence.  The  chief  stream  in  the  California  por- 
tion of  the  Enclosed  Basin  is  the  Mojave,  which  rises  on  the 
northern  slope  of  Mount  San  Bernardino,  and,  after  running 
about  one  hundred  miles  in  a  northeastward  direction,  sinks 
in  the  sand.  The  Mojave  receives  no  tributaries  after  it  leaves 
the  side  of  Mount  San  Bernardino.  After  sinking,  it  rises 
again ;  or  rather,  pools  of  water  are  found  in  the  low  places  of 
its  bed,  the  water  evidently  soaking  through  the  sand  and  fol- 
lowing the  bed  of  the  stream.  The  next  stream  in  importance 
is  Owen's  River,  which  runs  southward  seventy-five  miles  along 
the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  terminates  in  Owen  Lake, 
which  lies  in  latitude  36°  25',  and  is  fifteen  miles  long  by  nine 
wide.  Northward,  one  hundred  miles  from  Owen  Lake,  is 
Mono  Lake,  eight  miles  long  and  six  wide,  sometimes  called 
"  the  Dead  Sea  of  California."  No  fish  can  live  in  the  water, 
which  is  so  heavy  with  saline  substances  that  the  human  body 
floats  in  it  very  lightly ;  though  it  is  so  strongly  alkaline  that 
it  scalds  the  skin.  In  the  midst  of  the  lake  is  an  island  sev- 
eral miles  long.  While  the  greater  part  of  the  Enclosed  Basin 
is  high  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  there  is  a  portion  of  it,  called 
"  Death  Valley,"  the  sink  of  the  Amargosa  River,  thirty  miles 
long  and  ten  wide,  between  36°  5'  and  36°  35',  three  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  feet  below  the  sea-level,  one  of  the  driest 
and  most  desolate  parts  of  that  basin  of  deserts.  About  lati- 
tude 40°,  the  Sierra  Nevada  seems  to  divide  or  fork — one 
branch  running  northward,  in  the  line  of  the  main  chain ;  the 
other  northwestward  to  Mount  Shasta.  Between  these  two 
branches,  and  between  40°  and  42°,  is  a  high  table-land  or 
plateau,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  long,  and  five 
thousand  feet  above  the  ocean  level,  belonging  to  the  Enclosed 
Basin.  The  main  stream  in  this  plateau  is  Susan  River,  which 
after  a  course  of  forty  miles  in  an  eastward  direction,  empties 
into  Honey  Lake,  which  is  twelve  miles  long  by  five  wide. 
Northwestward  from  Honey  Lake,  and  distant  thirty  mile? 


TOPOGRAPHY.  11 

from  it,  is  Eagle  Lake,  about  half  the  size  of  the  other.  The 
land  is  barren  and  the  vegetation  scanty.  Pit  River  starts  in 
the  northeastern  corner  of  the  State,  breaks  through  the 
plateau,  and  empties  into  the  Sacramento,  to  the  basin  of 
which  it  belongs.  North  of  the  river  are  Wright  Lake  and 
Rhett  Lake,  within  five  miles  of  the  Oregon  line ;  and  Goose 
Lake  and  Lower  Klamath  Lake,  partly  in  Oregon  and  partly 
in  California.  The  largest  is  Goose  Lake,  fifteen  miles  long 
and  five  wide.  Some  of  the  lakes  in  the  Enclosed  Basin 
change  their  character  according  to  the  seasons.  After  abund- 
ant rains  they  are  large,  and  their  water  is  clear  and  sweet ; 
after  several  dry  years  the  waters  fall,  become  thick,  opaque 
and  saline,  or  entirely  disappear. 

§  15.  Colorado  Desert. — A  district,  about  seventy  miles 
wide  by  one  hundred  and  forty  long,  on  the  southeastern  bor- 
der of  the  State,  belongs  to  the  basin  of  the  Colorado  River. 
It  is  usually  called  the  "  Colorado  Desert,"  because  of  its  bar- 
ren, sandy  soil,  and  scanty  vegetation.  In  some  places  the 
soil  is  composed  of  sand,  packed  together  firmly,  with  a  hard 
and  smooth  surface,  which  reflects  light  like  a  mirror ;  in  other 
places  are  mountains  of  loose  sand,  which  are  continually  shift- 
ing. In  latitude  33°  20',  and  longitude  115°  50',  a  district 
containing  3,000  square  miles  is  seventy  feet  below  the  level 
of  the  sea.  At  one  time  the  Gulf  of  California  extended  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  farther  north  than  it  now  does ;  an'd  the 
Colorado  River,  in  long  ages,  deposited  on  the  western  edge  of 
its  channel  so  much  alluvium  as  to  make  banks  down  to  the 
present  head  of  the  gulf,  thus  cutting  off  from  its  connection 
with  the  ocean  that  part  of  the  gulf  now  dry.  The  evapora- 
tion in  this  desert  far  exceeds  the  fall  of  rain  ;  so  it  was  not 
long  before  this  lake  was  dried  up.  When  the  Colorado  River 
is  very  high,  it  breaks  over  its  banks  about  forty  miles  south- 
ward from  Fort  Yuma,  and  sends  a  large  stream,  called  New 
River,  northwestward,  a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles  or  more, 
to  the  lowest  portion  of  the  desert. 


12  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

§  16.  Counties. — California  has  fifty-three  counties.  Those 
in  the  northern  half  of  the  State,  are  Del  Norte,  Klamath, 
Humboldt,  Mendocino,  Modoc,  Sonoma,  and  Marin,  on  the 
coast ;  Lassen,  Sierra,  Nevada,  Placer,  Ell  Dorado,  and  Ama- 
dor,  on  the  eastern  border;  and  Shasta,  Siskiyou,  Trinity, 
Tehama,  Plumas,  Butte,  Colusa,  Yuba,  Sutter,  Lake,  Yolo, 
Napa,  Solano,  and  Sacramento,  inner  counties. 

In  the  southern  half  of  the  State,  are  San  Francisco,  San 
Mateo,  Santa  Cruz,  Monterey,  San  Luis  Obispo,  Santa  Barbara, 
Los  Angeles,  and  San  Diego,  on  the  ocean  ;  Mono,  Inyo,  and 
San  Bernardino,  on  the  eastern  boundary  ;  Calaveras,  Tuol- 
umne,  Mariposa,  Fresno,  Tulare,  Kern,  San  Joaquin,  Stanis- 
laus, Merced,  Contra  Costa,  Alameda,  San  Benito,  and  Santa 
Clara,  which  do  not  reach  to  the  border.  San  Diego  reaches 
entirely  across  the  State,  and  is  the  only  county  that  does. 

§  17.  Maps. — Among  the  maps  prepared  by  C.  F.  HolF- 
manu,  of  the  State  Geological  Survey,  and  executed  in  the  finest 
style  of  topographical  work,  and  with  great  accuracy,  are  the 
following  : 

1.  A  map  of  Central  California,  on  a  scale  of  six  miles  to 
an  inch.     It  covers  an  area  three  hundred  miles  square,  its 
northern  line  being  beyond  Lassen's  Peak  and  Cape  Mendocino, 
its  eastern  beyond  Owen  Lake,  its  southern  beyond  Yisalia  and 
Point  Sur,  its  western  beyond  Point  Reyes.     All  that  part  of 
this  region  in  California  has  been  carefully  surveyed  by  the 
State   Geological  Survey,   except  a  little  strip  in  the   Coast 
mountains  north  of  Clear  Lake.     The  scale  of  the  map  is  six 
miles  to  an  inch,  and  the  style  of  execution  is  superior  to  that 
of  any  other  map  ever  made  in  the  New  World,  of  a  State,  or 
any  large  area.     This  map  is  published. 

2.  The  triangle  south  of  Central  California,  on  the  same 
scale,  with  equal  thoroughness.     Its  northern  and  eastern  sides 
are  about  two  hundred  miles  long,  and  its  southern  and  west- 
ern boundaries  are  the  ocean.     This  map  is  to  be  published 
soon. 


TOPOGRAPHY.  13 

3.  The  Bay  map,  covering  an  area  of  sixty-six  by  ninety 
miles,  extending  from  Napa  to  Gilroy,  and  from  Livermore 
Pass  to  Olema,  on  a  scale  of  two  miles  to  an  inch,  has  been 
published.     It  shows  the  latest  municipal  lines,  the  town  plats, 
the  surroundings,  and  the  completed  railroads,  in  addition  to 
the  topography  and  the  depth  of  the  waters. 

4.  The  Yosemite  region,  covering  an  area  of  forty  by  fifty- 
eight  miles,  on  a  scale  of  two  miles  to  an  inch.     Published. 

5.  The  Yosemite  grant,  on  a  scale  of  two  inches  to  a  mile. 
Published. 

6.  California  and  Nevada,  on  a  scale  of  eighteen  miles  to 
an  inch.     Published. 

7.  A  geological  map  of  the  gravel  range  across  Nevada 
and  Placer  Counties,  to  be  done  probably  in  three  months ; 
and  a  geological  map  of  the  peninsula  of  San  Francisco.     Not 
yet  published. 


14  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  H. 

SOCIETY. 

§  18.  Population. — In  population,  California  is  the  twenty- 
fourth  State  of  the  Union,  but  in  the  absolute  number  of 
Chinamen  it  is  the  first,  in  Mexicans  and  Russians  second,  in 
Spaniards  the  third,  in  Poles  and  Danes  the  fifth,  in  French  the 
sixth,  and  in  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  the  ninth.  About 
one-seventh  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  four- 
elevenths  of  the  Californians,  were  born  abroad. 

According  to  the  Federal  census,  the  population  of  Califor- 
nia was,  in  1870,  560,247  ;  and  since  that  year  no  census  has 
been  taken  of  the  entire  population  in  any  part  of  the  State, 
nor  of  any  class  save  that  of  the  children  counted  for  school 
purposes.  In  1872,  the  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age 
numbered  207,084,  indicating  an  increase  of  22,394  in  two 
years,  or  more  than  11,000  annually.  Of  these  207,084,  69,723 
were  under  five  years  of  age,  and  137,361  between  five  and 
fifteen  inclusive.  We  may  assume  safely  that  in  each  of  those 
two  years  8,000  children  passed  beyond  the  school  age,  so  tKat 
the  entire  natural  increase  was  38,394.  We  know  also,  by  the 
statistics  kept  by  the  Custom  House  of  San  Francisco  and  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  that  in  the  three  years  and 
a  half  between  the  1st  of  July,  1870,  and  the  1st  of  January, 
1874,  the  excess  of  arrivals  over  departures  by  sea  and  rail 
was  65,000  persons.  After  allowing  for  deaths,  the  population 
of  the  State  at  the  end  of  1873  was  about  641,000,  if  the 


SOCIETY.  15 

census  of  1870  was  correct.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  much 
of  the  census  work  was  done  inefficiently,  and  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  the  true  population  of  California  in  1870 
was  not  less  than  590,000,  and  on  that  basis  the  present  popu- 
lation would  be  about  680,000. 

§  19.  Nationalities. — The  census  of  1870  contains  many 
details  which  may  be  regarded  as  approximately  correct ;  and 
we  must  accept  it  because  nothing  of  the  same  kind  is  to  be 
found  in  any  other  authority.  Our  attention  is  first  attracted 
to  the  matter  of  nativities,  and  here  we  find  that  350,416  of 
the  Californians  in  1870,  were  natives  of  the  present  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States;  and  209,831  were  foreign-born. 
Among  the  foreigners,  we  find  the  following  numbers,  viz  : 
54,421  Irish,  48,826  Chinese,  30,777  Germans  and  Austrians, 
22,644  English,  12,195  British  Colonists,  9,380  Spaniards  and 
Spanish-Americans,  8,063  French,  4,660  Italians,  2,944  Scan- 
dinavians, 2,495  Portuguese,  and  1,344  Russians  and  Poles. 

Among  the  Austrians  are  several  thousand  Dalmatians  from 
the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  ;  and  they  are  the  majority  of  our 
citizens  of  Slavonic  blood.  Counting  the  Germans,  British, 
British-Americans,  and  Scandinavians  together,  we  have 
68,560  foreigners  of  Teutonic  blood,  54,421  Celts  (assuming 
that  the  Irish  are  all  of  Celtic  blood),  and  25,048  Latins, 
including  under  that,  head  all  the  Spaniards,  Spanish- Ameri- 
cans, French,  Italians,  and  Portuguese. 

Of  the  350,416  natives  in  California,  169,904  were  born  in 
the  State,  leaving  180,512  natives  of  other  parts  of  the  Union  ; 
and  of  these,  47,792  were  born  in  the  Southern  or  ex-slave 
States,  and  132,720  in  the  Territories  and  Northern  States. 
New  Yrok  contributed  33,766,  Missouri  16,050,  Massachusetts 
15,334,  Ohio  12,735,  Maine  11, 2 61,  Pennsylvania  11,208,  and 
Illinois  10,689. 

§  20.  Occupations  and  Sexes. — The  number  of  people 
reported  as  being  engaged  in  occupations  in  1870,  was  238,648, 
including  224,868  men,  and  13,780  women.  Of  the  total, 


16  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

47,863  were  engaged  in  agriculture,  76,112  in  personal  and 
professional  duties,  33,165  in  trade  and  transportation,  and 
81,508  in  mechanical  and  mining  industries. 

The  entire  number  of  males  and  females  is  not  reported  in 
any  volume  of  the  census  yet  published,  but  we  have  the 
figures  for  those  persons  aged  ten  years  or  more,  and  among 
those  we  find  283,740  males,  and  146,704  females.  We 
know,  however,  that  there  were  184,000  children  under  six- 
teen, in  the  State  in  1870 ;  and  as  among  them  the  two  sexes 
were  equally  divided,  it  follows  that  there  were,  in  1870, 
263,000  males,  and  126,000  females  over  sixteen  in  the  State, 
or  two  to  one.  After  deducting  48,000  Chinamen,  we  find 
that  there  are  eight  males  to  five  females  among  the  whole 
population  over  sixteen,  and  that  90,000  white  men  can  find 
no  mates  in  the  State. 

The  native  males  number  199,421,  including  64,203  between 
five  and  eighteen  years  of  age,  77,828  between  eighteen  and 
forty-five,  and  93,327  adults.  The  foreign  males  number 
150,058,  including  6,883  between  five  and  eighteen,  117,107 
between  eighteen  and  forty-five,  and  133,929  adults. 

Theue  are  150,995  native  females,  and  59,973  foreign 
females. 

§  21.  Other  Classes.— There  are  128,752  families  in  Cali- 
fornia, averaging  4.35  persons  each,  and  126,307  dwellings, 
averaging  4.44  persons  each.  The  adult  male  citizens  num- 
ber 145,802,  and  94,738  votes  were  cast  at  the  presidential 
election  in  1872,  showing  that  in  that  year  51,064  voters, 
or  more  than  35  per  cent.,  stayed  away  from  the  polls.  The 
proportion  of  voters  who  did  not  go  to  the  polls  was  unusually 
large  in  that  year,  the  supposition  being  that  at  presidential 
elections  ordinarily  about  nine-tenths  of  the  voters  cast  their 
ballots. 

The  paupers  number  991,  including  637  foreign  and  354 
native. 

The  convicts  in  prison  were  1,574,  906  of  them  foreign 
and  668  native.  The  number  convicted  in  the  year  was  1,107. 


SOCIETY.  17 

|  22.  Decline  of  Mining  Counties. — The  population 
reported  in  1860  was  379,944,  showing  a  gain,  in  ten  years, 
of  176,669,  or  46  per  cent. 

The  general  gain  of  the  State  is  very  unevenly  distributed, 
and  there  are  some  serious  losses,  especially  in  the  mining 
counties,  of  which  the  following  may  be  taken  as  samples  : 

COUNTIES.  1860.  -  1870. 

Calaveras 16,209  8,896 

El  Dorado 20,562  10,326 

Mariposa 6,243  4,572 

Sierra 11,387  5,337 

Trinity 5,125  3,173 

Mokelumne 16,226  8,171 


Total 82,842  40,475 

Here  is  a  loss  of  42,366  inhabitants  in  six  counties,  or  more 
than  half  the  total  population  which  those  counties  had  ten 
years  ago.  The  loss  in  productive  power  is  still  greater,  for 
there  is  a  much  larger  proportion  of  women  and  children  now 
than  in  1860.  Placer  shows  a  loss  of  about  15  per  cent.; 
Siskiyou  of  10  ;  and  Yuba  (which  formerly  had  rich '  placers) 
of  20.  Del  Norte,  Klamath,  Plumas,  and  Shasta,  other 
mining  counties,  show  no  change  worthy  of  note.  Amador 
and  Nevada,  which  have  the  most  profitable  quartz  mines  of 
California,  have  gained,  the  former  10,  and  the  latter  16  per 
cent. 

The  largest  relative  gain  has  been  in  some  of  the  smaller 
agricultural  counties,  such  as  Colusa  and  Humboldt,  which 
have  each  added  200  per  cent,  to  their  population  in  the 
decennium.  Stanislaus,  San  Luis  Obispo,  and  San  Francisco 
gained  180  per  cent. ;  Sutter,  170  ;  Merced  and  Alameda,, 
150  ;  Solano,  125  ;  San  Joaquin  and  Santa  Clara,  120  ;  Santa 
Barbara,  San  Mateo,  Monterey,  Yolo,  and  Marin,  100  ;  Men- 
.  docino,  Santa  Cruz,  and  Sonoma,  75  ;  Contra  Costa,  60  ; 
Fresno,  50  ;  Los  Angeles,  35  ;  Napa,  28  ;  Sacramento,  12  ; 
Butte,  (which  is  now  mainly  agricultural)  9  ;  and  San  Diego, 
2 


18  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

8  per  cent.  There  was  a  loss  of  28  per  cent,  in  San  Ber- 
nardino ;  20  in  Tulare ;  and  10  in  Tehama.  The  loss  in  San 
Bernardino,  and  the  smallness  of  the  increase  in  San  Diego, 
are  probably  due  mainly  to  the  disappearance  of  Indians,  of 
whom  3,000  were  reported  for  each  county  in  1860. 

The  growth  in  the  agricultural  districts  of  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley  has  been  large.  We  put  the  following  counties 
together : 

COUNTIES.                                                  1860.  1870. 

San  Joaquin 9,435  21,064 

Stanislaus 2,245  6,510 

Merced 1,141  2,810 

Fresno 4,605  6,336 

Total 17,426  36,720 

Here  is  an  increase  in  the  district  of  more  than  100  per 
cent. 

There  are  53  counties,  of  which  18  are  mainly  mining,  and 
35  agricultural  and  commercial.  The  total  population  of  the 
mining  region  is  105,314,  or  an  average  of  5,861  to  the 
county.  The  agricultural  and  commercial  districts  have 
451,299  inhabitants,  or  an  average  of  14,031  to  the  county. 
San  Francisco  has  27  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
State,  or  more  than  the  entire  population  of  the  mining  region. 
Sacramento,  Santa  Clara,  Alameda,  San  Joaquin,  Sonoma, 
and  Nevada,  are  the  next  counties~in  order,  and  together  they 
have  about  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  the  State,  and 
with  San  Francisco  they  have  more  than  the  remaining  46 
counties. 

§  23.  Cosmopolitanism. — Not  one  in  twenty  among  the 
adult  Californians  to  be  met  with  in  the  larger  towns  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  State,  and  nearly  all  those  who  occupy  prominent 
and  influential  positions  in  society  and  business  have  come 
from  distant  homes.  Every  State  in  the  Union,  every  country  in 
Europe,  all  the  British  Colonies  in  North  America  and  Australa- 
asia,  all  the  countries  of  Spanish  America,  and  many  of  the 


SOCIETY.  19 

Polynesian  Islands,  are  represented.  The  long  and  costly  jour- 
ney demanded  either  money,  an  adventurous  disposition,  or 
both.  The  people  as  a  class  are  unequaled  in  their  general  in- 
telligence and  enterprise.  The  j  ourney  in  pioneer  times  was  suf- 
ficient in  itself  to  educate  a  man,  and  after  his  arrival  here  he 
found  himself  among  a  mixed  population,  who  had  to  make 
allowance  for  strange  customs,  and  in  new  conditions  which 
required  new  modes  of  working  and  new  habits  of  life.  The 
migratory  habits  of  the  miners,  the  large  profits  of  business, 
and  the  small  proportion  of  women,  have  all  exercised  a  strong 
influence  on  California  society,  which,  even  among  the  poorest 
and  most  ignorant  class,  has  a  liberal  and  cosmopolitan  tone. 

§  24.  State  Pride. — The  Californians  who  have  been  here 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years  are  proud  of  their  State,  and 
carry  their  pride  so  far  that  it  is  observed  as  something  ex- 
ceptional in  the  United  States.  The  causes  of  this  feeling  are  : 
satisfaction  with  themselves  for  their  share  in  building  up  the 
State,  and  with  the  rapidity  with  which  it  has  advanced  ;  the 
recollection  of  the  wonderful  changes  that  have  occurred  here 
within  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  of  the  impressive  events  in 
which  they  have  taken  part ;  and  profound  convictions  that 
this  is  in  many  respects  the  best  place  in  the  world  for 
the  enjoyment  of  life,  that  its  attractions  are  not  generally 
understood  in  the  Eastern  States  and  Europe,  that  it  is  destined 
to  have  a  prosperous  and  glorious  future,  and  that  it  will  be  a 
chief  pleasure  resort  and  a  center  of  the  highest  civilization. 
To  many  of  the  pioneers,  existence  would  lose  its  zest  and  ro- 
mance, and  would  become  a  dull  drudgery,  if  they  were  com- 
pelled to  make  their  homes  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  A 
large  proportion  of  those  who  have  left  the  State,  intending  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  their  native  places,  have 
returned,  declaring  that  they  could  not  accommodate  them- 
selves to  the  slow,  quiet,  dull  ways  of  more  antiquated  States. 

W.  F.  Rae,  in  his  Westward  by  Rail,  thus  exaggerates 
and  caricatures  the  State  pride  of  the  pioneers  : 


20  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA.  ' 

"  The  love  of  Californians  for  their  country  has  been  ab- 
sorbed in  a  singular  and  exceptional  affection  for  their  State. 

*  *     They  appear  to  live  under  the  delusion  that  the  rich 
gold  mines,  the  unrivaled  grain,  the    magnificent  fruit,  the 
delightful  climate,  are  all  creations  of  their  own.     Tell  them 

*  *    that  nature  has  been  as  kind  to  dwellers  in   other 
portions  of  the  globe,  and  they  will  appear  to  think  an  aifront 
is  intended." 

This  ridicule  loses  its  edge  when  we  read  elsewhere  in  his 
book,  that  this  is  "  the  land  of  perpetual  sunshine,"  and  "  it  is 
not  surprising  that  those  who  have  lived  in  California  should 
be  reluctant  to  leave  it,  and,  after  having  gone  elsewhere, 
should  long  to  return  thither."  Californian  miners  have  wan- 
dered off  in  considerable  numbers  to  British  Columbia,  Mon- 
tana, Nevada,  Utah,  and  Arizona,  but  the  Golden  State  holds 
a  warm  place  in  their  affection,  and  they  call  it  "  God's  Coun- 
try," a  title  full  of  eloquence  as  well  as  of  endearment.  And 
if  Californians  over-estimate  the  value  of  their  State,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  they  have  a  right  to  speak  as  experts,  for 
no  others  have  seen  more  of  the  world,  or  had  better  oppor- 
tunities to  make  a  fair  comparison. 

§  25.  Hospitality. — It  is,  perhaps,  partly  on  account  of 
their  State  pride,  that  the  Californians  are  cordial  and  hospit- 
able. They  want  travelers  to  carry  away  good  impressions  of 
the  country.  Since  the  completion  of  the  trans-continental 
railroad,  many  residents  of  the  Eastern  States  have  come  to 
visit  their  Californian  relatives,  and  they  have  carried  back 
glowing  accounts  of  the  generous  welcome  given  to  them.  In 
the  numerous  books  on  California,  much  is  said  of  the  hospi- 
tality of  the  people.  One  gentleman,  connected  with  the  Bank 
of  California,  has  been  so  magnificent  in  the  entertainment  of 
strangers,  that  an  absurd  rumor  was  published  that  the  Bank 
allowed  him  $150,000  annually  for  that  purpose ;  but  such  a 
story  would  not  have  been  started  about  any  other  State.  The 
hospitality  of  the  Californians  is  in  keeping  with  their  general 


SOCIETY.  21 

mode  of  life.  They  live  for  enjoyment,  and  expect  to  expend 
most  of  their  money  as  it  comes.  They  have  traveled  enough 
to  know  how  to  entertain,  and  how  to  accept  entertainment. 
C.  L.  Brace,  in  his  New  West,  says  :  "  The  great  virtues  of  Cal- 
ifornian  society  are  its  intelligence,  its  energy,  and  above  all, 
its  generosity." 

§  26.  Luxurious  Living. — The  enjoyment  of  life  is  a 
prominent  purpose  of  Californian  society,  while  religion,  social 
display,  and  the  accumulation  of  money  are  less  noticeable  than 
in  most  other  countries.  The  prevalent  mode  of  living  is  luxu- 
rious, and  the  habits  are  extravagant.  While  many  fine  for- 
tunes have  been  made  in  the  State,  in  comparison  with  the 
number  of  inhabitants,  yet  a  large  proportion  of  those  having 
excellent  incomes  save  relatively  little,  preferring  to  enjoy 
their  gains  as  they  go  along.  The  houses  generally  are  fur- 
nished elegantly  ;  the  tables  are  supplied  with  a  variety  of  the 
best  kinds  of  food ;  and  the  clothing  is  of  costly  material. 
The  traveler  observes  that  the  dresses  of  the  ladies  on  Kearny 
Street  are  richer  in  stuff  and  color,  and  less  pretentious  in  their 
cut  and  trimming,  than  those  of  Broadway.  When  people 
come  to  California  they  expect  to  better  their  condition,  and 
they  are  not  content  to  live  as  they  lived  before  coming  hither. 
They  are  often  extravagant,  and  seldom  miserly. 

§  27.  Social  Equality. — In  no  place  is  society  more  free  and 
cordial,  and  ready  to  give  a  friendly  reception  to  a  stranger,  than 
in  California.  The  new-comer  is  looked  upon  with  favor ;  no- 
body cares  whether  he  belongs  to  a  distinguished  family,  has 
moved  in  a  fashionable  circle,  or  possesses  wealthy  or  influential 
friends  or  relatives.  The  great  question  is,  "  Is  he  or  she  well 
educated,  polished,  and  entertaining  ?  "  Of  course,  Californi- 
ans  are  not  entirely  above  such  considerations  as  govern  soci- 
ety elsewhere,  but  they  are  influenced  by  them  far  less  than 
people  in  other  States.  The  course  of  business  is  such  that  no 
profession  has  all  the  wealth.  There  are  rich  men  of  all  oc- 
cupations, and  some  of  the  mechanical  trades  are  now  as  profit- 


22  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

able,  on  the  average,  to  those  engaged  in  them,  as  are  the 
learned  professions.  Those  who  were  rich  in  the  older  States,  and 
received  a  thorough  education  and  a  polished  training,  may  here 
be  poor,  while  those  who  came  hither  poor  and  ignorant  may 
now  be  rich.  Besides,  the  changes  are  so  rapid  that  our  neigh- 
bor who  is  poor  to-day  may  be  rich  to-morrow,  and  the  neigh- 
bor who  is  rich  to-day  may  be  poor  to-morrow.  Again, 
California  is  preeminently  a  country  of  business.  People 
come  here  to  make  money,  and  everybody  tries  to  make  it ; 
and  in  a  State  where  wages  are  high,  and  profits  large,  a 
man's  business  depends  to  a  considerable  extent  on  the  multi- 
tude of  his  friends,  so  everybody  wishes  to  make  a  friend  of 
everybody  else.  The  millionaire  in  Europe  may  treat  his  ten. 
ant  as  an  inferior  ;  in  California  the  wealthiest  land-owner  is 
expected  to  treat  his  tenant  as  an  equal.  All  these  things 
have  their  influence  in  preventing  the  separation  of  our  society 
into  those  classes  which  prevail  elsewhere. 

In  no  part  of  the  world  is  the  individual  more  free  from 
restraint.  High  wages,  migratory  habits,  and  bachelor  life, 
are  not  favorable  to  the  maintenance  of  stiff  social  rules  among 
men ;  and  the  tone  of  society  among  women  must  partake,  to 
a  considerable  extent,  of  that  among  men,  especially  in  a 
country  where  the  women  are  in  a  small  minority,  and  there- 
fore are  much  courted.  Public  opinion,  which  as  a  guardian 
of  public  morals  is  more  powerful  than  the  forms  of  law,  loses 
much  of  its  power  in  a  community  where  many  of  the  inhab- 
itants are  not  permanent  residents.  A  large  portion  of  the 
men  in  California  live  alone,  either  in  cabins  or  in  hotels, 
remote  from  women  relatives,  and  therefore  uninfluenced  by 
the  powers  of  a  "  home."  Many  girls  commence  going  into 
"  society  "  about  fifteen,  then  receive  company  alone,  and  go 
out  alone  with  young  men  to  dances  and  other  places  of 
amusement. 

Charles  Nordhoff  pays  Californians  the  following  compli- 
ment: 


SOCIETY.  23 

"I  do  not  know  whether  to  ascribe  it  to  their  varied  em- 
ployments, or  to  the  fact  that  the  State  was  settled  originally 
by  a  picked  population,  the  most  energetic  and  resourceful  only 
coming  here,  and  of  these  again  only  the  ablest  achieving  suc- 
cess and  remaining  here ;  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  I  was  struck  with 
the  high  character  of  the  population,  in  all  parts  of  the  State 
I  have  seen,  for  intelligence,  enterprise,  and  activity.  '  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco  are  the  only  two  cities  you  can  find  in  the 
whole  country  which  will  remind  you  of  New  York,'  said  a 
friend  to  me,  whom  I  met  in  Chicago.  I  think  he  is  right. 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Cincinnati,  and  other  large  cities,  diifer 
in  many  ways  from  New  York.  All  of  them  seem  *  slow7  to 
one  accustomed  to  the  rush  and  whirl  of  New  York  business 
life.  But  such  a  person  finds  himself  at  home  in  either  Chi- 
cago or  San  Francisco.  In  both  he  finds  the  same  activity  in 
the  streets ;  California  Street,  in  San  Francisco,  during  business 
hours,  is  so  much  like  our  own  Broad  and  Wall  Streets,  that 
when  I  first  saw  it  I  had  no  need  to  ask  what  was  done  there. 
The  business  men  of  San  Francisco  move,  talk,  dress,  dine,  and 
carry  on  affairs  like  New  Yorkers ;  some  of  them  drink  a  little 
more  whisky — that  is  the  only  apparent  difference  between 
them.  They  are  as  accessible  to  strangers,  as  readily  hospitable, 
and  as  little  formal  as  New  Yorkers ;  and  what  is  true  of  San 
Francisco  is  equally  true  of  the  whole  State.  A  banker,  law- 
yer, or  merchant,  anywhere  we  have  traveled  in  California, 
might  be,  for  aught  you  could  tell  from  his  appearance  or  lan- 
guage, dress  or  address,  just  from  New  York.  You  would 
not  take  him  for  a  Bostonian  or  a  Philadelphian  ;  and  I  did 
not  notice  on  any  person  that  peculiar  air  or  dress  which, 
with  us  in  the  East,  proclaims  a  lawyer  or  business  man  from 
the  interior.  I  think  it  was  Donald  G.  Mitchell  who  com- 
plained that  no  man  could  live  two  years  out  of  New  York, 
no  matter  how  well  informed  he  might  be,  or  how  excellent, 
his  tailor,  without  betraying  himself  to  a  New  Yorker  as  a 
countryman.  Well,  here  in  California  I  met  dozens  of  busi- 


24  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ness  and  professional  men  whom  I  should  have  taken  anywhere 
for  New  Yorkers — men  as  fresh  in  their  thoughts,  as  ready,  as 
though  they  had  only  the  day  before  left  Broadway  or  Wall 
Street. 

"  It  is  the  same  with  their  houses.  They  receive  you,  they 
dine  or  lunch  you,  they  entertain,  as  though  they  were  New 
Yorkers.  Of  course,  the  climate  leads  them  to  a  diiferent 
style  of  building ;  but  when  you  are  once  indoors  you  are  as 
much  at  home,  and  find  the  ways  of  the  house,  the  mode  of 
life,  and  the  tone  of  conversation,  as  familiar  to  you  as  though 
you  were  at  home.  I  met  no  '  rusty'  people  in  all  California." 

An  American  correspondent  of  a  London  paper  said  : 

"All  Englishmen  with  whom  I  have  talked  agree  that 
there  is  a  marked  difference  between  Californians  and  other 
Americans,  and  in  favor  of  the  former.  It  comes  out,  I  think, 
most  clearly  in  the  manners  of  the  lower  classes,  who  have  a 
certain  frank  courtesy  that  I  have  not  met  elsewhere  in  the 
States.  One  explanation  is  that  California  has  been  settled  by 
picked  men  from  all  countries  in  the  world.  *  *  *  The  pleas- 
anter  side  of  such  deference  to  a  stranger's  feelings  is  a  self- 
respect  which  makes  the  lower  classes  in  California  among  the 
most  agreeable  companions  I  have  known  anywhere  in  a  corres- 
ponding class." 

§  28.  Physical  Characteristics. — Of  the  Americans  in  Cal- 
ifornia, it  may  be  remarked  that  they  generally  have  the  same 
marks  as  the  Americans  in  the  Eastern  States.  Their  eyes  are 
deep  set,  their  foreheads  high,  their  features  regular  and  finely 
cut,  their  faces  expressive  and  free  from  grimace,  their  com- 
plexions sallow,  their  lips  thin,  their  mouths  grim,  their  bodies 
tall,  slim,  and  slightly  bent  in  the  shoulders,  their  chests  thin, 
their  voices  harsh,  and  their  enunciation  slow  and  clear,  with 
little  modulation.  These  general  characteristics,  as  compared 
with  Europeans,  are  common  among  the  natives  of  the  Atlantic 
States  who  came  to  California  after  reaching  adult  age  ;  but 
there  is  an  evident  change  in  those  who  came  young  to  the 


SOCIETY.  25 

State,  or  were  born  here.  The  typical  Californian  of  the  next 
generation  will  be  plump,  ruddy  in  complexion,  full  in  the 
chest,  and  melodious  in  voice.  In  other  words,  he  will  resem- 
ble the  Briton  more  than  the  Massachusetts  man.  Even 
among  those  natives  of  the  Eastern  States  who  have  come  to 
California  as  men  and  women,  there  is  much  change.  Many 
of  them  have  lost  their  sallow  complexions  and  thin  figures, 
and  when  they  return  to  their  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  East 
the  contrast  attracts  attention  immediately.  Age  does  not 
show  so  rapidly  in  California.  Our  women  as  a  class  are  con- 
siderably heavier  than  in  New  York,  and  the  sizes  of  corsets 
and  shoes  sold  there  are  too  small  for  the  main  demand  of  the 
San  Francisco  market.  Many  English  tourists,  writers  of 
books,  have  observed  the  physical  peculiarities  of  Californians 
as  compared  with  other  Americans ;  and  among  them  is  W.  F. 
Rae,  who  wrote  thus  : 

"  From  points  about  which  travelers  differ  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  turn  to  one  about  which  there  has  been  and  must  be  perfect 
unanimity.  The  beauty  of  the  women  is  without  the  pale  of 
controversy.  It  cannot  be  likened  to  the  beauty  for  which 
English  girls  are  universally  and  deservedly  admired ;  for 
which  Italian  maidens  have  been  immortalized  on  canvas  or  in 
verse ;  for  which  the  sprightly  damsels  of  France,  and  the 
coquettish  ladies  of  Spain,  have  won  applause,  and  by  means 
of  which  they  have  won  conquests.  If  I  were  to  select  a  par- 
ticular locality  in  the  United  States,  I  might  truthfully  com- 
pare the  type  of  beauty  predominant  thereto  that  of  a  partic- 
ular country  in  the  Old  World.  But  America  is  a  world  in 
itself.  Within  the  bounds  of  the  Republic  of  the  West  are  all 
climates  which  give  diversity  to  Europe,  from  Rome  to  Copen- 
hagen and  from  London  to  Madrid.  Where  climates  vary, 
female  faces  vary  also.  In  New  England,  may  be  seen  those 
delicately  chiseled  features  and  transparent  complexions  which 
in  Europe  are  characteristic  of  the  fascinating  beauties  of  the 
North.  In  the  Southern  States,  the  imperious  and  indolent 


26  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Spanish  women,  with  their  amorous  eyes  and  raven  hair,  have 
been  reproduced  at  a  distance  of  many  thousand  miles  from 
Andalusia  and  Castile.  Let  the  traveler  cross  the  continent 
till  the  Pacific  slope  is  reached,  and  there  the  soft  and  delicate 
beauty  of  Italy,  combined  with  an  intelligence  wholly  Ameri- 
can, and  a  physique  wholly  English,  delights  and  surprises 
you.  Nor  are  good  looks  the  sole  dower  of  the  American 
girls.  They  are  more  French  than  English  in  the  acuteness 
with  which  they  argue.  They  are  passionately  fond  of  the 
frivolities  of  existence,  yet  they  follow  with  interest  the  course 
of  the  graver  topics  of  the  day.  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"  The  children  are  healthy  and  robust.  Their  rosy  cheeks  are 
a  great  contrast  to  the  transparent  skins  and  pale  complexions 
of  New  England  children.  If  the  child  be  a  criterion  of  the 
man,  the  native-born  Californians  will  hereafter  be  fine  speci- 
mens of  humanity.  *  *  The  physical  conditions  under 
which  human  beings  exist  in  this  favored  region,  are  well 
adapted  for  imparting  to  them  the  qualities  which  lead  to 
greatness  in  all  departments  of  exertion." 

In  his  book  entitled  Across  the  Continent,  Samuel  Bowles 
says  : 

"  The  indications  are  that  the  human  stock  will  be  improved 

both  in  physical  and  nervous  qualities.     The  children  are  stout 

and  lusty.     The  climate  invites,  and  permits  with  impunity, 

\      such  a  large  open-air  life  that  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise." 

I /    Another  traveler,  C.  L.  Brace,  thus  records  his  impressions : 

"  The  population  will  be  the  most  industrious  working  pop- 
ulation of  the  world.  *  *  Such  is  the  wonderful  quality  of 
nature  here,  and  the  selected  energy  of  the  Americans,  that 
the  five  hundred  thousand  [Californians]  are  equal  to  millions 
elsewhere.  *  *  It  is  the  land  of  handsome  men.  *  *  The 
young  girls  of  the  city  [San  Francisco]  show  a  great  deal  of 
beauty,  and  such  rich  bloom  of  complexion  as  we  seldom  see 
on  the  Atlantic  border.  The  Coast  will  no  doubt  be  merely 
the  American  type  improved.  *  *  I  am  constantly  meeting 


SOCIETY.  27 

young,  ruddy,  round-faced  business  men,  whom  I  mistake  for 
Englishmen,  but  they  are  Yankee-born." 

Robert  von  Schlagintweit,  a  distinguished  German  traveler, 
says : 

"  The  visitor  from  the  Eastern  States  of  America  immedi- 
ately observes  the  fresh  appearance  of  the  Californians ;  and  is 
astonished  at  the  healthy  complexions  and  light  red  cheeks, 
which  are  rare  in  his  former  home." 

These  quotations  are  inserted  here  not  only  to  confirm  my 
own  statements,  and  give  additional  authority  to  them,  but  also 
to  show  how  strongly  travelers  are  impressed  with  the  evi- 
dences that  a  race  of  peculiar  physical  character,  or  at  least 
different  from  and  superior  to  those  of  the  Atlantic  States,  will 
grow  up  here.  I  have  not  found  anywhere  an  adverse  opinion. 

§  29.  Publicity  of  Life. — Life  in  California  is  very  public. 
Many  of  the  people  live  in  hotels  and  at  large  boarding- 
houses.  Travelers  are  numerous ;  theaters  and  balls  are 
abundant  and  well  attended ;  celebrations  and  festivals  are 
frequent ;  the  population  is  excitable  ;  all  take  the  newspapers, 
and  all  are  interested  in  the  events  of  the  day  ;  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  country  is  full  of  eventful  incidents,  which 
always  present  fruitful  topics  for  discussion.  Money  is 
abundant,  and  is  easily  earned,  and  of  course  it  is  spent 
freely  ;  and  the  favorite  method  of  spending  is  in  public  fes- 
tivities and  attending  places  of  amusement.  The  regularity 
of  the  summer  climate  enables  people  to  make  journeys, 
excursions,  picnics,  and  parties,  without  fear  of  rain  or  prepar- 
ation for  it.  In  the  winter  the  people  are  not  shut  in  by  the 
cold  ;  and  at  San  Francisco  the  coolness  of  the  climate  is  a 
constant  stimulus  to  exercise,  and  an  invitation  to  go  into  the 
street.  Dancing  parties  are  common  throughout  the  year. 
Numerous  national,  secret,  and  benevolent  associations,  Sun- 
day-schools, and  military  companies,  must  have  their  annual 
picnics,  while  others  have  their  periodical  festivities  in  the 
form  of  balls.  But  perhaps  the  amusement  which  has  found 


28  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  most  favor  in  California  is  billiard-playing.  Billiard- 
tables  are  found  everywhere.  In  many  little  villages  where 
there  is  but  one  inn  a  fine  billiard-table  will  be  found.  In 
San  Francisco  there  are  numerous  large  billiard-saloons,  con- 
taining each  from  eight  to  twelve  of  the  largest  and  most 
elegant  billiard-tables,  at  which  men  are  constantly  playing. 

§  30.  Education. — California  has  an  excellent  system  of 
State  schools,  open  without  charge  to  all  children  between 
five  and  fifteen  years  of  age  ;  and  the  system  of  instruction 
and  the  general  management  of  the  departments  are  reported 
to  be  little,  if  in  any  manner,  inferior  to  those  in  Massachu- 
setts. The  teachers  are  mostly  natives  of  the  Eastern  States, 
and  are  highly  capable.  The  intelligence  of  the  people  who 
settled  the  State  will  be  transmitted  to  their  offspring,  and 
there  is  no  probability  that  the  Californians  of  1900  will  be 
less  intellectual  than  those  of  1870. 

Out  of  135,361  children  of  school  age,  72,972  go  to  school, 
and  the  average  daily  attendance  is  65,700.  There  are  1,612 
schools,  and  2,301  teachers,  of  whom  1,420  are  ladies.  The 
total  expense  to  the  public  treasury  is  $2,131,783  annually. 
There  are  88  school  libraries,  with  200,000  volumes. 

The  public  libraries  of  the  State,  in  addition  to  those 
belonging  to  the  schools,  number  thirty,  with  300,000  volumes, 
including  the  Mercantile  of  30,000,  Mechanics'  of  20,000,  and 
the  Odd  Fellows'  of  18,000,  in  San  Francisco. 

A  State  University  has  been  liberally  endowed  by  the  State 
and  has  been  organized,  but  as  yet  it  deserves  to  be  called  a 
college.  It  has  a  small  library,  no  laboratory,  and  few  pro- 
fessors and  students ;  but  it  has  a  magnificent  site,  and  means 
which,  if  properly  managed,  would  enable  it  to  become  a 
great  institution.  Much  of  its  money  has  been  squandered, 
however,  and  the  result  for  the  future  is  doubtful.  Secta- 
rian colleges  are  scattered  along  the  coast  from  Santa  Rosa 
to  Santa  Barbara,  most  of  them  small  affairs.  Those  of 
the  Jesuits  have  the  best  buildings  and  apparatus  and  the 


SOCIETY.  29 

largest  number  of  students  and  professors.  Many  of  the  non- 
Catholic  parents  send  their  sons  and  daughters  to  Catholic 
schools. 

§  31.  Literature. — California  has  made  a  beginning  in  the 
establishment  of  a  local  literature,  but  her  writers  were  nearly 
all  born  elsewhere,  though  they  first  resorted  to  authorship 
here,  and  were  impelled  to  it  by  our  intellectual  atmosphere. 
The  only  native  of  the  State  who  has  ventured  into  print  is  a 
lady  of  Spanish  blood,  and  she  did  not  make  a  success.  The 
Californian  books  include  law,  history,  geography,  religion, 
biography,  science,  romance,  poetry,  and  humor.  H.  W.  Hal- 
leek's  International  Law,  Gregory  Yale's  Water  ^Rights,  Frank- 
lin Tuthill's  History  of  California,  John  W.  Dwinelle's  Colo- 
nial History  of  San  Francisco,  Frank  Soule's  Annals  of  San 
Francisco,  T.  F.  -Cronise's  Natural  Wealth  of  California,  T. 
H.  Hittell's  Adventures  of  James  Adams,  A.  S.  Evans'  Our 
Sister  'Republic,  John  F.  Swift's  Trip  to  Jericho,  John  F. 
Derby's  Phcenixiana,  M£,rk  Twain's  Innocents  Abroad,  and 
Bret  Harte's  Condensed  Novels,  deserve  special  mention. 
Derby,  Mark  Twain,  and  Bret  Harte  are  accounted  deservedly 
as  among  the  leading  humorists  of  the  age,  and  Swift,  in  his 
Jericho,  has  shown  much  humorous  power.  Ina  Coolbrith,  C. 
W.  Stoddard,  Emily  Lawson,  Edward  Pollock,  Joaquin  Mil- 
ler, and  many  others,  have  made  valuable  contributions  to  the 
poetry  of  the  Pacific. 

§  32.  Art. — Our  artists,  like  our  authors,  have  all  come 
from  abroad,  and  yet  they  feel  as  if  they  belonged  here  as 
much  as  if  born  here.  Some  of  them  came  hither  without 
skill  or  reputation  and  rose  to  eminence  among  us ;  others,  who 
had  gained  reputation  in  the  East,  came  and  made  their  home 
by  preference  in  California,  on  account  of  the  attractions  of 
its  climate  and  scenery.  Landscape  has  been  the  branch  of 
most  of  our  artists,  and  has  been  carried  to  a  high  degree  of 
excellence.  Thomas  Hill  is  a  master  in  general  effect,  relief,  ef- 
fective arrangement  of  light  and  shade,  and  fine  harmonies  of 


30  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

contrast  and  color ;  and  in  these  prominent  points  I  have  not 
yet  seen  any  pictures  superior  to  his.  Wm.  Keith  has  similar 
merits,  but  both  paint  in  the  same  broad  style,  and  omit  much 
desirable  finish  of  detail.  In  this  respect,  Bierstadt,  who  does 
not  claim  to  be  a  Californian,  but  has  spent  much  time  here, 
is  superior  to  either.  Virgil  Williams  is  another  landscape 
painter  of  much  skill.  The  only  historical  painter  is  Charles 
Nahl,  whose  works  possess  remarkable  excellence  in  vigor  and 
suggestiveness  of  design.  In  accuracy  of  drawing,  strength  of 
light  and  shade,  careful  finish,  and  brilliancy  of  color,  he  ranks 
high.  His  picture  of  "  Sunday  in  the  Mines  in  1849,"  of  ex- 
hibition size,  representing  a  mining  camp,  with  horse-racing, 
with  men  bible-reading,  writing  home,  washing,  quietly  rest- 
ing, gambling,  and  fighting,  is  enough  to  make  a  reputation. 
He  is  fond  of  bright  sunshine,  and  he  makes  it  glare  with  all 
the  brilliancy  of  midday  under  a  California  sky.  Wm.  Hahn, 
an  excellent  figure  painter,  has  not  yet  determined  to  make 
his  permanent  home  here.  S.  M.  BrQpkes,  as  a  painter  of  still 
life,  is  unsurpassed  on  our  continent. 

The  Art  Association  of  San  Francisco  has  taken  a  firm  foot- 
hold and  given  some  very  creditable  exhibitions,  and  it  prom- 
ises to  become  the  nucleus  of  a  permanent  art-school. 

§  33.  Religion. — In  1870,  California  had  643  religious  con- 
gregations,  532  houses  of  worship,  and  seats  in  them  for  195,- 
000  persons,  or  space  for  about  one-third  of  the  population. 
The  property  of  these  congregations  was  valued  at  $7,404,000, 
or  about  $13,000  for  each  church,  on  an  average.  The  Catho- 
lics have  144  churches,  66,000  seats,  and  property  valued  at 
$4,600,000,  or  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  churches,  one-third 
of  the  seats,  and  one-half  of  all  the  church  property  in  the 
State.  The  Methodists  have  155  churches,  the  Baptists  115, 
the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists95,  the  Episcopalians 
38,  and  others  smaller  numbers.  The  Jews  have  seven,  the 
Mormons  three,  and  the  Spiritualists  two.  The  people  gener- 
ally are  not  strict  in  their  adherence  to  ecclesiastical  regula- 


SOCIETY.  31 

tions.  Most  of  them  rarely  go  to  church,  and  many  of  those 
who  go  are  not  communicants.  Church  membership  is  not 
generally  supposed  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  round  dances, 
theater-going,  or  card-playing.  The  Americans  generally  are 
nearly  all  Protestants  by  education,  but  they  wear  their  faith 
loosely,  and  lean  to  indifferentism,  if  not  skepticism.  Thegreat 
majority  of  the  Germans  are  more  skeptical  than  the  Ameri- 
cans. The  Italians  and  French  adhere  nominally  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  but  show  no  zeal.  The  foreign-born  Irish 
have  brought  their  zeal  with  them,  and  preserved  it  pretty 
well ;  but  the  new  generation  are  affected  to  a  considerable 
extent  with  the  spirit  of  indifferentism,  and  the  church,  not- 
withstanding it  gains  some  converts  from  the  Protestant  sects, 
which  win  none  in  return,  is  losing  influence  relatively,  not- 
withstanding its  numerous  schools,  in  which  the  dogmas  of  the 
church  are  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  people  with  great 
care.  Secret  associations,  mainly  benevolent  and  social  in 
their  purposes,  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  California  ;  and  in 
many  of  the  mining  towns  the  Odd  Fellows'  and  Masonic 
lodges  are  more  costly  and  commodious  than  the  churches, 
and  the  feeling  of  attachment  to  these  Brotherhoods  is  akin 
to  religion. 

The  Odd  Fellows,  the  strongest  secret  order  in  the  State, 
have  200  lodges  and  14,000  members;  gain  1,000  members 
every  year ;  collect  $300,000  of  revenue,  and  spend  two-thirds 
of  the  sum  for  the  relief  of  needy  members. 

The  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  have  187  lodges  and  10,000 
members,  and  gain  about  800  annually. 

The  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  has  40  lodges  and  2,600 
members. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men,  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
the  Order  of  Druids,  the  Order  of  Heptasophs,  are  other  asso- 
ciations, mainly  benevolent. 

The  Fenian  Brotherhood,  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians, 
the  United  Order  of  American  Mechanics,  the  United  Order 

f  "      OF  THE 

(UNIVERSITY 

^v  fl. 


32  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

of  White  Men,  the  American  Protestant  Association,  the  Order 
of  the  Crescent,  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  have 
political  and  benevolent  purposes. 

The  B'nai  B'rith,  and  the  Ancient  Jewish  Order  of  K.  S.  B., 
are  societies  of  mutual  benevolence,  open  to  Jews. 

The  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  recently  organized,  has  about 
7,000  members.  Its  avowed  purpose  is  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  the  agricultural  community. 

§  34.  Deeds  of  JBlood. — Twenty  years  ago,  California  had 
a  sad  notoriety  for  deeds  of  blood,  and  for  lynch  executions; 
but  as  society  has  become  more  settled,  murders  and  illegal 
punishments  have  become  rarer,  and  are  perhaps  not  more 
common  now  than  in  some  States  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  abundance  of  treasure,  the  necessity  of  transporting  it  for 
long  distances  over  mountainous  roads,  and  the  sparseness  of 
the  population,  offer  opportunities  for  robbery  seldom  found 
elsewhere,  and  they  are  not  entirely  neglected.  The  stage  rob- 
bers are  usually  gentlemen  in  their  way  ;  and  they  generally 
content  themselves  with  taking  the  box  of  treasure  sent  by 
the  express  company,  neither  robbing  nor  insulting  the  passen- 
gers when  they  find  that  the  express  box  is  empty,  and 
that  they  have  risked  their  lives  for  nothing.  Even  when 
homicides  were  most  frequent,  the  great  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple were  secure  in  their  lives  and  property ;  but  the  percent- 
age of  deaths  was  large  among  the  gamblers,  drunkards,  hold- 
ers of  disputed  land  claims,  thieves,  and  borderers.  Public 
gambling  was  tolerated  by  law  until  1854,  and  by  custom  in 
the  mining  towns  ten  years  later.  Dueling  was  common. 
The  Indians  were  a  degraded  and  drunken  race,  and  caused 
much  bloodshed.  The  great  injustice  done  by  the  govern- 
ment, in  preventing  the  people  from  getting  secure  titles  to 
either  the  agricultural  or  mining  lands,  led  to  numerous  quar- 
rels, and  many  fatal  affrays.  The  scarcity  of  women  was 
another  source  of  trouble.  In  all  these  respects  there  has  been 
great  improvement,  and  our  larger  towns  are  little  inferior  to 


SOCIETY,  33 

those  of  Illinois  in  the  security  of  life  and  the  maintenance  of 
public  order. 

Yet  in  the  most  disorderly  times,  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  were  peaceful,  quiet,  and  firmly  hostile  to  all  forms  of 
crime.  The  pioneers,  as  a  class,  would  have  been  a  credit 
morally  to  any  country ;  and  the  ideas  to  the  contrary  have 
been  circulated  mainly  by  writers  who  were  not  here  previous 
to  1853. 

California  has  been  a  favorite  subject  of  exaggeration.  A 
romancer  who  wants  to  make  a  sensation,  tells  a  big  story 
about  our  State,  with  no  purpose  that  it  shall  be  taken  as  true ; 
but  somebody  else  imagines  it  to  be  the  fact,  draws  it  up  in  a 
new  form,  and  it  then  passes  as  established  truth.  It  must  be 
in  this  manner  that  Herbert  Spencer,  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  able  men  of  the  day,  has  lately  been  misled.  The  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly  for  June,  1873,  contains  a  paper  from  his 
pen,  and  in  its  course  he  says  : 

"  I  do  not  refer  only  to  such  extreme  illustrations  of  it  as 
were  at  one  time  furnished  in  California,  where,  along  with 
that  complete  political  freedom  which  some  suppose  to  be  the 
sole  requisite  for  social  welfare,  most  men  lived  in  perpetual 
fear  for  their  lives,  while  others  prided  themselves  on  the 
notches  which  marked,  on  the  hilts  of  their  pistols,  the  num- 
ber of  men  they  had  killed.'* 

Unfortunately  for  Mr.  Spencer,  his  illustrations  are  false.  I 
have  lived  twenty-five  years  in  California,  part  of  the  time  in 
the  mines,  have  all  the  time  been  familiar  with  the  general 
condition  of  society  throughout  the  State,  and  can  safely  say 
that  never  was  one  man  in  a  hundred  "  in  perpetual  fear  of 
his  life,"  nor  in  any  fear  once  a  year.  Men  who  have  attended 
to  their  own  business,  kept  sober,  avoided  gambling  houses 
and  disputed  land  titles,  and  acted  honestly,  have  always  been 
comparatively  safe.  I  do  not  remember  that  any  California!! 
murderer  ever  prided  himself  on  the  notches  on  his  pistol 
marking  the  number  of  his  victims,  nor  could  boasts  of  mur?. 
3 


34  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

der  have  been  made  with  impunity  in  any  part  of  the  State. 

Bret  Harte's  representations  of  the  manners  of  the  miners 
of  California  are  very  entertaining,  and  they  do  not  claim  to 
be  anything  save  romance.  He  and  Clarence  King  have  both 
undertaken  to  write  about  pioneer  life  in  the  mines  of  Cali- 
fornia, without  personal  knowledge  or  careful  investigation, 
which  was  not  required  of  the  novelist,  but  would  not  have 
been  out  of  place  in  a  work  recording  observations  taken  dur- 
ing an  official  geological  survey. 

Previous  to  1856,  street  fights  were  among  the  institutions 
of  San  Francisco.  It  would  frequently  be  announced  by  con- 
versation, or  even  by  the  newspapers  in  the  morning,  that  a 
street  fight  might  be  expected  that  day,  between  two  men 
whose  names  were  mentioned ;  and  the  curious  would  collect 
on  the  main  business  street,  to  see  the  fun.  The  belligerents 
would  walk  along  the  street,  and  on  coming  near  each  other 
would  draw  their  revolvers,  and,  with  or  without  speaking, 
commence  firing.  The  fight  would  be  one  of  self-defense  on 
both  sides.  In  the  use  of  deadly  weapons,  California  resem- 
bles the  Gulf  States  far  more  than  the  North.  The  wild  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  the  early  times  was  impressed  upon  our 
society,  and  we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  reform  it  altogether ; 
and  in  the  matter  of  carrying  deadly  weapons,  and  in  street 
fights,  we  have  imitated  the  example  of  the  Cotton  States. 
So,  too,  in  the  matter  of  duels,  of  which  there  have  been 
many  in  California,  and  some  of  them  of  a  character  so  re- 
markable as  to  attract  attention  all  over  the  civilized  world. 
Dueling  is  punishable  as  a  felony  by  severe  penalties ;  but  a 
hundred  duels  have  been  fought  in  the  State,  and  about  one- 
third  of  them  have  proved  fatal  to  one  of  the  principals,  and 
yet  no  man  has  been  legally  punished  for  dueling,  nor  has 
any  one  been  prevented  from  voting  or  holding  office  for  that 
reason  ;  on  the  contrary,  many  of  the  duelists  have  held  offices 
among  the  most  honorable  and  profitable  in  the  State.  Pub- 
lic opinion,  which  is  more  potent  than  the  law,  has  con- 
demned duels,  and  we  have  not  had  one  for  years. 


SOCIETY.  35 

§  35.  Dialect. — Bret  Harte  has  attributed  to  the  miners  of 
California  a  peculiar,  strongly-marked,  and  affected  dialect, 
but  he  has  drawn  on  his  imagination  for  the  greater  part  of  it. 
A  mixed  population,  like  that  in  the  mines,  representing  every 
State  in  the  Union,  and  every  county  of  Great  Britain,  could  not 
have  a  dialect ;  and  nowhere  is  the  English  language  better  un- 
derstood, or  spoken  with  more  force,  elegance,  and  purity,  by 
the  poorer  classes  of  people,  than  in  this  State.  Harte  did  not 
come  to  California  until  1857,  never  lived  in  the  mines,  and 
had  no  habits  of  research,  nor  was  it  necessary  that  he  should 
have  for  success  in  his  department  of  literature.  Slang,  as  dis- 
tinct from  dialect,  is  common  in  California.  Mark  Twain  had 
excellent  opportunities  to  become  familiar  with  it,  and  he  has 
made  a  singular  and  amusing  collection  of  it  in  an  account  of 
"  Buck  Fanshaw's  Funeral." 

§  36.  Californianisms. — The  Californians  have  introduced 
certain  words  into  the  English  language,  or  at  least  have 
adopted  them  in  common  use  in  the  State,  and  a  list  of  them, 
with  their  pronunciation  and  definition,  may  not  be  out  of 
place  here : 

Aparejo,  (a  par  ay'  ho)  a  Mexican  pack-saddle. 

Adobe,  (a  do'  ba)  a  large,  sun-dried,  unburned  brick,  some- 
times two  feet  long,  a  foot  wide,  and  four  inches  thick. 

Arroyo,  (ar  ro'  yo)  a  brook,  or  the  dry  bed  of  a  brook  or 
small  river. 

Arastra,  (a  ras'  tra)  a  primitive  mill  for  crushing  quartz. 

Alforja,  (  al  for'  hah)  a  bag,  usually  made  of  raw  cowhide, 
used  for  holding  the  articles  to  be  carried  by  a  pack-horse. 

Ear. — A  low  bank  of  sand  or  gravel,  at  the  side  of  a  river, 
deposited  by  the  stream. 

Summer. — An  idle,  worthless  fellow,  who  does  no  work 
and  has  no  visible  means  of  support.  The  word  "  loafer,"  like 
"  lounger,"  does  not  designate  the  general  conduct  or  perma- 
nent character  of  a  man,  but  only  a  temporary  idleness.  A 
respectable,  industrious  man  may  become  a  "  loafer  "  by  mak- 


36  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ing  idle,  impertinent  visits  in  business  places  during  business 
hours ;  but  the  word  "  bummer  "  implies  a  low,  lazy  character. 
It  is  probably  derived  from  the  vulgar  German  words  JBwn- 
meln  and  Bummeler,  which  are  about  equivalent  to  "  loafer  " 
and  '"  loaf."  Its  origin  has  been  attributed  to  J3oehmen,  the 
German  name  of  Bohemia,  a  nationality  celebrated  for  the 
number  of  its  sharpers  and  adventurers.  The  Gipsies  are 
called  Bohemiens  in  France,  because  of  their  roving  lives  and 
worthless  character.  "  Bummer  "  is  generally  supposed  here 
to  be  a  Californianism. 

Summing ^  acting  the  bummer,  used  in  such  phrases  as  "  he 
is  bumming  around." 

Caballada,  (ca  bal  yah'  da)  a  herd  of  broken  horses. 

Canada,  (can  yah'  da)  a  small  canon,  a  deep  ravine,  a  nar- 
row valley  with  steep  sides. 

Canon,  (can'  yon)  originally  a  tube,  and  hence  applied  to 
mean  a  deep  gorge  with  high,  steep  walls.  Comparatively  few 
canons  and  caiiadas  are  to  be  found  in  that  portion  of  the 
United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  but  they  are  abundant  in 
California.  The  Spaniards  place  the  accent  on  the  last  syllable 
of  canon,  (can  yone')  but  in  ordinary  American  usage  the  ac- 
cent is  on  the  first  syllable.  It  is  frequently  spelt  "  canyon," 
and  "  kanyon." 

Corral,  (cor  ral')  a  pen  into  which  a  herd  of  cattle  or  horses 
is  driven,  when  one  is  to  be  caught. 

To  corral,  to  drive  into  a  corral ;  to  drive  a  person  into  a 
position  from  which  he  cannot  escape. 

To  coyote,  a  mining  term,  to  dig  a  hole  resembling  the  bur- 
row of  the  coyote,  or  small  Californian  wolf. 

Claim,  the  tract  of  land  claimed  for  mining  purposes  by  a 
man  or  party.  There  are  various  kinds  of  claims,  such  as 
bank,  bar,  hill,  tunnel,  flat,  etc. 

Color,  a  visible  quantity  of  gold  found  in  prospecting.  If 
the  prospector  finds  one  or  more  particles  of  gold  in  his  search, 
he  savs  he  has  found  the  color. 


SOCIETY.  37 

To  dry  up,  a  slang  phrase,  meaning  to  stop,  fail,  disappear, 
become  silent.  It  is  very  expressive  to  Californians,  accus- 
tomed to  see  the  whole  face  of  the  country  dry  up  in  the  sum- 
mer season. 

Diggings,  a  general  name  for  placer  gold  mines.  Wet  dig- 
gings are  in  the  banks  and  bars  of  creeks  or  rivers ;  dry 
diggings  are  in  flats  or  the  beds  of  gullies,  which  are  dry  the 
greater  portion  of  the  year. 

Espediente,  the  original  papers  relating  to  some  government 
business,  filed  in  a  public  office. 

Embarcadero,  (em  bar  ca  day'  ro)  a  landing  place. 

To  freeze  out,  a  miner's  phrase,  used  to  express  the  policy 
whereby  stockholders,  or  partners  -in  mines,  are  driven  to  sell 
out.  For  instance  :  if  some  rich  men,  owning  part  of  a  mine, 
discover  that  it  is  very  valuable,  they  may  conceal  that  fact, 
and  at  the  same  time  levy  heavy  assessments  for  works  which 
can  bring  no  speedy  return  ;  and  thus  the  poorer  shareholders 
will  be  burdened  and  discouraged,  and  induced  to  sell  out  at 
a  low  price. 

Fuste,  (foos'  te)  a  strong'  saddle-tree,  made  of  wood,  and 
covered  with  raw  cowhide,  used  for  lassoing. 

Gulch,  a  gully. 

Habilitation,  from  the  Spanish  'habUitacion,  a  certificate,  or 
stamp  on  paper,  which  authorized  it  to  be  used  for  certain 
purposes.  To  habilitate  paper,  is  to  place  the  mark  of  habili- 
tation  upon  it. 

To  hydraulic,  a  mining  term,  to  wash  dirt  by  throwing  a 
stream  of  water  upon  it  through  a  hose  and  pipe. 

Jaquima,  (hack'  ee  ma)  a  head-stall  used  in  breaking  wild 
horses. 

To  knock  down,  a  miner's  phrase,  meaning  to  steal  rich 
pieces  of  auriferous  quartz  from  the  lode. 

Manada,  (ma  nah'  da)  a  herd  of  breeding  mares  under  the 
lead  of  a  stallion. 

Mecate,  (may  cah'  te)  a  rope  of  hair,  used  for  tying  horses. 


38  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

MochUas,  (mo  chee'  las)  large  leathern  flaps  for  covering  a 
fuste. 

Plaza,  a  public  square  in  a  town. 

Play  a,  a  beach. 

Pozo,  a  spring  or  well. 

Pueblo,  a  town. 
'    To  pipe,  to  wash  dirt  by  the  hydraulic  process. 

Pay-Dirt,  auriferous  dirt  rich  enough  to  pay  the  miner. 

Placer,  from  the  Spanish,  a  place  where  gold  is  found  in 
earthy  matter. 

To  prospect,  to  hunt  for  gold  diggings ;  to  examine  ground 
or  rock  for  the  purpose  of  finding  whether  it  contains  gold, 
and  how  much. 

Prospect,  the  discovery  made  by  prospecting. 

Rodeo,  (ro  day'  o)  a  collection  of  wild  or  half- wild  cattle, 
made  for  the  purpose  of  separating  or  marking  them. 

Recojida,  (ray  co  hee'  da)  a  similar  collection  of  horses. 

Rancho,  (ran'  tsho)  before  the  Americans  took  California, 
meant  a  tract  of  land  used  almost  entirely  for  pasturage, 
rarely  less  than  four  square  miles  in  extent,  sometimes  as 
much  as  ninety-nine  square  miles,  and  in  most  cases  not  less 
than  thirty  square  miles.  Since  the  conquest,  rancho,  and  its 
American  derivation  "  ranch,"  are  often  applied  to  small  farms, 
and  sometimes,  in  the  way  of  slang,  to  single  houses,  tents,  and 
liquor  shops.  "  Ranch  "  is  sometimes  used  as  a  verb  :  thus  a 
man  who  opens  a  farm,  according  to  common  parlance,  "  has 
gone  to  ranching."  We  speak  of  a  "  milk  ranch,"  "  butter 
ranch,"  "  cheese  ranch,"  "  chicken  ranch,"  etc. 

Ranc/iero,  (ran-tsha'-ro)  a  man  who  owns  and  lives  upon  a 
rancho.  It  is  usually  understood  to  mean  a  Spanish  Califor- 
nian. 

Rancheria,  (ran  tsha  ree'  a)  an  Indian  hut  or  a  village. 

Reata,  (ray  ah'  ta)  a  rawhide  rope,  used  for  lassoing. 

Rubric,  a  nourish,  which  Mexicans  and  native  Californiaus 
append  to  their  signatures,  and  which,  in  fact,  they  consider 


SOCIETY.  39 

as  an  important  part  of  their  signatures,  and  the  most  difficult 
to  imitate  or  counterfeit.  They  often  use  their  "  rubrics  " 
alone  as  signatures.  To  rubricate,  to  sign  with  a  rubric. 

Sluice,  a  trough  used  for  washing  pay-dirt. 

Ground-Sluice,  a  trough  cut  in  the  ground  for  washing  pay- 
dirt. 

Tail-Sluice,  a  sluice  put  in  below  a  number  of  other  sluices, 
and  depending  on  them  for  its  supply  of  dirt  and  water. 

Sluice-Fork,  a  fork  similar  to  a  manure  fork,  but  with 
blunt  prongs,  as  wide  at  the  point  as  at  the  heel.  The  fork  is 
used  for  throwing  stones  out  of  the  sluices. 

Sluice-Head,  the  quantity  of  water  used  in  a  sluice ;  a  con- 
stant stream  of  water  running  through  an  aperture,  usually 
two  inches  high,  and  from  five  to  fifteen  inches  long,  under  a 
pressure  of  seven  inches. 

Slum,  slimy  mud. 

To  strip,  to  throw  oif  worthless  dirt  from  the  top  of  pay 
dirt. 

Sierra,  (see  er'  ra)  originally  a  saw,  a  chain  of  mountains. 

Square  Meal,  a  good  meal  at  a  table,  as  distinguished  from 
such  meals  as  men  make  when  they  are  short  of  provisions,  a 
condition  not  uncommon  among  men  who  make  adventurous 
trips  into  the  mountains. 

Tailings,  the  waste  of  a  sluice,  torn,  rocker,  or  quarta-mill. 

Tom,  a  wooden  trough,  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  long,  for 
washing  pay-dirt. 

Tom- Stream,  or  Tom- Head,  the  amount  of  water  used  in  a 
torn. 

Rocker,  or  Cradle,  a  machine  resembling  a  domestic  cradle, 
for  washing  pay-dirt. 

Wing-Dam,  a  dam  in  a  creek  or  river,  running  partly 
across. 

§  37.  Spanish  Californians. — The  people  of  Spanish  blood 
in  the  State  are  mostly  natives  of  California,  Mexico,  and  Chile. 
As  a  class,  they  are  poor  and  ignorant.  The  Mexicans  and 


40  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Spaniards  who  came  to  California  while  Spain  held  dominion 
of  the  country,  brought  few  women  with  them,  but  took  In- 
dian women  for  wives ;  and  the  descendants  of  these  women 
form  a  majority  of  the  Spanish  Calif jrnians.  Among  the 
wealthier  families,  the  Indian  cast  of  countenance  has  almost 
disappeared.  Although  the  features  are  sometimes  thick,  the 
expression  of  the  face  is  mild  and  pleasant.  The  complexion 
is  dark,  and  grows  darker  with  age ;  the  hair  is  black  and 
straight,  the  eyes  black,  the  cheeks  ruddy.  Many  of  the  men 
are  handsome,  tall,  broad-shouldered,  large-boned,  strong, 
healthy,  and  long-lived.  They  grow  fleshy  as  they  grow  old ; 
and  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  women.  Tiiey  are  a  good- 
natured  race,  very  kind  and  obliging  to  their  friends,  but  out 
of  place  among  Americans,  who  are  too  sharp  for  them  in 
trading.  Instead  of  increasing  in  wealth  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country,  the  Spanish  Californians  have  been  rap- 
idly growing  poorer,  and  now  they  own  not  one-twentieth  of  the 
landed  property  which  they  had  in  1848.  Then  they  owned 
nearly  everything ;  now  there  is  not  a  leading  merchant  or 
millionaire  among  them.  They  regret  the  conquest.  They 
lived  in  a  very  simple  manner  under  the  Mexican  dominion, 
but  they  were  secure  in  their  property,  and  were  the  political 
masters.  Now  they  form  a  small  and  powerless  minority, 
among  a  people  far  superior  to  them  in  agricultural  and 
mechanical  skill  and  business  knowledge — a  people  who  are 
absorbing  all  their  wealth,  and  who  look  upon  them  and  treat 
them  as  inferiors.  Although  some  of  the  Spanish  Californians 
are  content  with  the  change  of  dominion,  yet  many  hate  the 
Americans.  Indeed,  the  condition  of  affairs  in  some  of  the 
counties  where  the  Spanish  population  is  numerous,  was  near 
civil  war  at  various  periods  between  1851  and  1854.  Most 
of  the  Spanish  Californians  live  in  the  country ;  their  chief 
wealth  is  in  land  and  cattle,  and  the  main  occupation  of  the 
poorer  classes  is  herding  cattle. 

§  38.     Chinese. — The  Chinese  population  of  California  was 


SOCIETY.  41 

49,310  in  1870,  and  of  these,  22,760  were  in  the  mining 
counties,  including  San  Diego,  Kern,  Yuba,  and  San  Bernardi- 
no, in  which  mining  occupies  only  a  small  part  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. San  Francisco  has  12,030  ;  Sacramento,  3,596  ;  Nevada, 
2,627  ;  Placer,  2,410;  Yuba,  2,337  ;  Butte,  2,082  ;  and  other 
counties  smaller  numbers.  The  census  reports  so  far  published, 
do  not  classify  the  Chinese  according  to  their  occupations ;  but 
by  my  estimate,  18,000  of  them  are  miners,  8,000  are  agri- 
culturists, and  22,000  are  manufacturers,  fishermen,  domestic 
servants,  merchants,  washmen,  etc.  In  the  class  of  miners  are 
included  the  builders  and  menders  of  roads. 

Most  of  our  Chinese  came  from  Southern  China,  and  be- 
long to  large  companies,  each  of  which  represents  the  district 
from  which  its  members  came,  and  has  a  large  building  in 
San  Francisco,  where  they  lodge  and  feed  all  the  members  of 
their  company  when  they  arrive  from  China,  or  when  they 
eome  on  a  visit  from  the  interior.  The  companies  are  benevo- 
lent associations,  and  take  care  of  their  indigent  and  sick. 
There  are  few  Chinese  beggars  in  the  streets,  and  few  Chinese 
patients  in  the  public  hospitals.  The  common  laborers  are 
brought  to  the  State  under  contract  to  work  for  several  years 
at  a  low  rate  of  wages  (from  four  to  eight  dollars)  per  month  ; 
and  they  usually  keep  these  contracts  faithfully.  The  employ- 
ers in  these  cases  are  either  the  companies,  or  associations  of 
Chinese  capitalists.  The  merchants  are  considered  to  be  very 
faithful  to  their  promises,  and  in  San  Francisco  they  can  get 
credit  among  their  acquaintances  quite  as  readily  as  other  men 
in  similar  branches  of  business.  In  the  mines,  the  Chinamen 
work  in  the  poorest  class  of  diggings.  They  own  no  ditches, 
large  flumes,  hydraulic  claims,  or  tunnel  claims.  The  white 
miners  have  a  violent  antipathy  to  them,  will  not  permit  them 
to  work  in  many  districts,  and  will  often  drive  them  from  their 
best  claims  in  the  districts  where  they  are  permitted  to  work. 
Sometimes  the  Celestials  venture  to  dam  a  stream,  but  not 
often.  They  use  the  rocker  more  than  any  other  class  of  miners. 


42  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

In  San  Francisco,  the  merchants  are  usually  in  partnerships, 
with  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  ten  partners,  all  of 
whom  live  in  the  store,  and  deal  chiefly  in  Chinese  silks,  teas, 
rice,  and  dried  fish.  The  two  latter  articles  form  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  food  of  the  Chinamen  in  the  State.  They  have  not 
learned  to  use  bread  instead  of  rice.  Those  who  can  afford  it 
eat  pork,  chickens,  and  ducks.  Beef,  and  most  of  our  garden 
vegetables,  do  not  find  much  favor  with  them,  even  among 
the  wealthiest.  The  washermen  are  usually  in  companies  of 
two  or  three,  and  they  have  numerous  little  shops  in  the  streets 
of  San  Francisco,  and  in  the  smaller  towns.  They  sprinkle 
their  clothes,  previous  to  ironing,  by  filling  the  mouth  with 
water  and  then  blowing  it  over  them.  For  ironing,  instead  of 
a  flat-iron,  they  use  an  iron  pan  with  a  smooth  bottom,  and 
kept  full  of  burning  charcoal. 

The  Chinese  men,  women,  and  children  learn  English  very 
slowly ;  most  of  those  who  have  been  five  or  six  years  in  the 
State  cannot  understand  the  most  common  English  words. 
All  the  Chinamen  in  California  adhere  to  their  national  cos- 
tume, with  some  slight  variations.  They  wear  their  hair  long, 
use  no  white  muslin  or  linen  next  the  skin,  and  very  few  ever 
put  on  a  dress  coat  or  stove-pipe  hat.  In  the  cities,  they  or- 
dinarily use  wooden-soled  shoes,  with  thin  cotton  uppers.  In- 
stead of  a  coat  they  have  a  short  blouse,  generally  of  dark- 
blue  cotton,  fitting  close  up  to  the  neck.  The  wealthy  have 
this  blouse  made  of  silk  or  fur.  In  cold  weather,  if  of  silk  or 
cotton,  it  is  wadded.  The  legs  and  lower  part  of  the  body 
are  enclosed  in  breeches  of  cotton  or  silk,  tight  from  the  thigh 
down,  and  loose  above.  Trowsers,  boots,  and  felt  hats  are 
common. 

The  law  tolerates  the  Chinese.  A  treaty  gives  them  the 
right  of  coming  to  our  country,  living  here,  and  engaging  in 
business ;  but  they  are  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  natu- 
ralization. 

The  statutes  of  California  levying  a  tax  of  $50  each  on  all 


SOCIETY.  43 

Chinese  immigrants,  and  a  tax  of  $4  per  month  on  all  Chinese 
miners,  have  been  declared  void  by  the  Courts ;  and  the  stat- 
ute forbidding  them  to  testify  against  a  white  man  was  re- 
pealed by  the  new  Code,  in  a  clause  of  which  the  people  knew 
nothing  till  after  its  adoption.  Public  sentiment  and  partizan 
policy  in  California  are  decidedly  hostile  to  the  Chinamen, 
have  shown  them  no  mercy,  and  have  not  insisted  on  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  numerous  crimes  committed  against  them.  The 
Chinamen  have  no  votes,  elect  no  officers,  support  no  news- 
papers, and  have  few  advocates.  ^ 

Riots,   to  beat  and  murder   Chinamen,   to  destroy   their    \ 
houses,  and  to  drive  them  away  from  places  where  they  were 
employed,  have  been  frequent  in  the  State.     Many   public 
meetings  have  been  held  to  fan  the  hatred  against  them  into 
flames.     A  prominent  politician,  in  a  public  speech,  expressed 
a  wish  that  the  Pacific  Mail  steamers  which  bring  immigrants 
from  Canton,  should  be  burned.     A  Jesuit  priest,  in  1873,  de-   *- 
livered  an  anti-Chinese  address  in  a  Catholic  Church  in  San 
Francisco,  and  in  its  course  thus  addressed  his  auditory  : 

"  If,  I  say,  they  [the  Chinese]  should  ever  become  domiciled 
in  our  country,  your  posterity  will  be  doomed  to  a  miserable 
fate — a  fate  against  which  it  will  be  useless  for  them  to  strug- 
gle, for  it  will  not  have  the  power  to  resist ;  and  bitter,  aye 
bitter,  will  be  the  curses  on  your  memory,  when  you  are  gone, 
for  the  legacy  which  you  have  left  to  it." 

The  address  was  published  in  full  in  the  Monitor,  the  lead- 
ing organ  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  California,  and  was  com- 
mended editorially  as  an  "  admirable  discourse." 

Chinamen  are  exposed  everywhere  to  insult  and  injury,  as  a 
hated  and  helpless  race  must  be  everywhere,  if  there  are  ruf- 
fians among  their  enemies.  They  are,  besides,  exposed  to  mob 
violence  in  case  they  should  enter  into  new  employments. 
They  would  not  dare  to  work  in  the  gold  quartz  mines  at  Grass 
Valley  or  Sutter  Creek ;  nor  would  it  be  safe  for  them  to  un- 
dertake to  do  work  of  stevedores  or  hod-men  in  San  Fran- 


44  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

cisco.  Assault  and  murder  would  be  the  probable  punishment 
of  such  grievous  offenses.  Arson  has  been  used  often  against 
them  and  their  employers.  Factories,  quartz  mills,  wheat 
stacks,  and  dwellings,  have  been  burned  on  many  occasions  ; 
half  a  dozen  white  men  have  been  assassinated,  because  they 
hired  Celestials.  The  owners  of  several  factories  have  dis- 
missed Chinese  operatives  in  times  of  anti-Chinese  excitement, 
to  save  their  property  from  the  torch. 

Hundreds  of  farmers,  miners,  and  manufacturers  would  like 
to  hire  Celestials,  but  dare  not  offend  the  anti-Chinese  ruffians. 
The  Chinese  have  been  employed  extensively  on  the  railroads, 
but  would  not  have  been  if  their  work  had  been  combustible, 
or  if  the  directors  of  the  companies  had  lived  near  the  line  of 
their  roads  in  solitary  houses,  where  assassination  would  prob- 
ably have  escaped  detection.  The  opportunity  for  the  crime, 
but  not  the  will,  was  lacking.  Chinamen  do  not  erect  costly 
houses  in  solitary  places;  nor  in  small  towns  ;  but  they  have 
purchased  some  good  buildings  in  San  Francisco,  where  they 
are  protected  against  fire  by  the  abundance  of  people  and  by 
the  fears  of  the  conflagrations  t  extending  to  the  property  of 
white  men.  Even  in  the  metropolis,  with  its  crowded  streets 
and  numerous  policemen,  the  Celestial  washmen  usually  have 
their  windows  boarded  up  to  keep  out  murderous  cobble- 
stones. While  the  great  majority  of  the  white  people  treat  the 
yellow  men  kindly,  still  there  are  enough  ruffians  to  make 
their  condition  unenviable.  They  live  among  us  by  sufferance, 
and  all  want  to  leave  so  soon  as  they  can  save  enough  to  enjoy 
comfort  elsewhere. 

It  is  said  that  the  Chinamen  should  not  be  tolerated  here 
because  they  are  an  inferior  caste,  they  do  not  learn  our  lan- 
guage or  customs,  they  send  away  the  money  of  the  country, 
they  make  no  improvements,  they  pay  few  taxes,  and  they 
are  immoral  Pagans,  and  enslaved.  The  only  slavery  among 
them  in  California,  is  an  honest  compliance  with  their  contracts, 
entered  into  freely.  They  pay  their  debts  incurred  for  their 


SOCIETY.  45 

passage  money,  and  that  is  a  kind  of  slavery  that  might  pre- 
vail more  extensively  among  other  nationalities  without  hurt- 
ing them. 

The  Paganism  is  brought  up  only  as  an  excuse  for  persecu- 
tion. If  industry,  economy,  sobriety,  fidelity  in  service  to  the 
extent  of  their  knowledge,  humanity,  peaceful  disposition,  good 
order,  kindness  of  manner,  prompt  payment  of  debts,  and  at- 
tention to  their  own  business,  be  immoral,  then  the  Chinamen 
are.  There  can  be  no  caste  in  California  except  in  so  far  as 
their  exposure  of  crime,  and  their  submission  to  illegal  violence, 
makes  them  an  unfortunate  class.  They  are  free,  and  their 
children  born  here  are  citizens  and  voters ;  and,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, caste  is  not  possible. 

Should  they  be  blamed  for  not  erecting  houses  for  their  ene- 
mies to  burn,  or  can  we  find  fault  if  they  send  away  money 
which  they  can  neither  invest  nor  enjoy  here  in  security? 
Could  we  expect  them  to  adopt  our  customs  or  language,  when 
we  show  to  them  that  they  must  not  think  of  this  as  their 
home  ?  If  California  wants  them  to  study  her  interests,  she 
should  study  theirs.  The  highest  triumph  of  statesmanship 
consists  in  bidding  successfully  for  men,  and  the  grossest  of  all 
political  blunders  have  been  committed  by  driving  away  in- 
dustrious, skillful,  peaceful,  and  honest  workers.  France  and 
Spain,  by  such  mistakes,  enriched  Holland  and  England ;  and 
perhaps  California  can  enrich  Oregon  or  British  Columbia  in 
a  like  manner.  The  Chinese  are  a  very  desirable  class  of 
inhabitants.  They  have  all  the  natural  qualities  needed  to 
make  a  rich  and  happy  State ;  and  if  they  understood  that 
they  could  enjoy  their  wealth  here,  they  would  probably  soon 
change  their  policy,  and  fit  themselves  for  the  country,  by 
making  greater  efforts  to  learn  its  language  and  customs,  by 
adopting  the  whites'  costume,  building  good  houses,  and  bring- 
ing their  women  with  them. 

Complaint  is  made  that  the  Chinamen  deprive  the  poor 
white  men  of  employment  and  drive  them  from  the  State ; 


46  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Chinamen  support  in- 
directly a  large  proportion  of  the  white  men  in  California,  and 
that  the  larger  the  number  of  Chinamen  the  more  white  men 
will  be  needed  and  the  greater  their  profit  will  be.  We  owe  to 
them  nearly  all  our  railroads,  all  the  large  irrigation  ditches 
lately  built  or  now  in  progress,  nearly  all  our  reclamation 
dykes,  most  of  our  factories,  and  many  of  our  wagon  roads. 
Without  their  help  we  could  not  manage  our  vineyards,  our 
orchards,  or  our  grain  harvests.  If  we  could  not  afford  to  do 
without  the  Chinamen  now  here,  we  should  not  lose  anything 
by  having  more  of  them.  There  is  room  here  for  3,000,000, 
and  we  would  have  had  that  number  if  those  here  had  been 
received  properly,  and  they  would  indirectly  or  directly  sup- 
port at  least  as  many  white  people.  But  when  we  are  to 
obtain  2,000,000  whites  under  our  present  policy  is  extremely 
doubtful.  With  a  population  of  4,000,000,  (  and  Italy  with 
a  smaller  area  has  24,000,000)  our  farms,  our  quartz  mines, 
our  town  lots,  our  railroads,  and  all  our  property,  would  be 
vastly  increased  in  value,  and  thousands  of  white  men  who 
are  now  barely  able  to  support  themselves  and  maintain  their 
possessions,  would  then  be  wealthy. 

Any  considerable  addition  made  to  the  number  of  indus- 
trious, skillful,  and  economical  workmen  must  add  to  the  value 
of  land.  The  interest  of  the  land-owner  in  a  country  where 
most  of  the  area  is  the  property  of  the  Government,  and  is 
offered  by  it  as  a  gift  to  poor  citizens,  must  be  the  interest  of 
the  State ;  and  if  it  were  in  conflict  with  the  interest  of  home- 
less and  landless  laborers,  then  the  latter  should  be  sacrificed. 
The  Chinese  dig  at  least  $6,000,000  annually,  or  nearly  one- 
third  the  gold  yield  of  the  State.  We  could  not  do  without 
that.  They  are  indispensable  in  our  kitchens.  If  the  China- 
men were  expelled,  a  thousand  white  families  would  break  up 
house-keeping,  and  never  resume  it  again.  Thousands  of  farm- 
houses, country  hotels,  and  boarding-houses  in  the  small 
towns,  would  be  in  confusion,  if  the  Chinamen  should  all 


SOCIETY.  47 

leave.  But  the  chief  sufferer  would  be  San  Francisco,  which 
would  find  many  factories  closed,  five  hundred  houses  vacant, 
and  several  thousand  white  men  deprived  of  their  incomes. 

The  idea  that  industrious,  economical,  and  skillful  laborers 
can  impoverish  a  country,  is  absurd.  They  must  enrich  it. 
The  lower  the  wages  for  which  they  work,  the  greater  the  prof- 
it made  by  the  remainder  of  the  community.  The  more  of 
the  cheap  laborers,  the  better  for  the  others.  The  white  men 
have  vast  advantages  in  the  possession  of  all  the  capital,  the 
language,  the  mechanical  skill,  the  government,  and  the  ex- 
clusive right  of  claiming  mines  and  preempting  farms  on  the 
Federal  domain.  Under  these  circumstances,  if  they  cannot 
compete  with  the  Chinamen,  then  for  the  welfare  of  California, 
they  should  give  way  before  the  stronger  race.  But  there  is 
no  danger  that  the  white  men  would  be  driven  out  of  Cali- 
fornia. On  the  contrary,  the  more  Chinamen,  the  more  white 
men. 

Fears  have  been  entertained  that  the  poor  whites  would  be 
swamped  by  the  immigration  of  Celestials,  not  only  to  Cali- 
fornia, but  also  to  the  Atlantic  States  and  Europe  ;  but  there  is 
no  ground  for  apprehension.  The  estimate  of  350,000,000  in- 
habitants for  China  is  too  high  by  100,000,000,  according  to 
the  latest  authorities ;  and  if  the  Chinese  emigrants  were  kindly 
received  and  properly  taught  the  useful  arts  in  Christian  lands, 
factories  in  the  valleys  of  the  Yangtze  and  Hoangho  would 
soon  furnish  employment  for  their  surplus  labor.  It  is  the  in- 
terest of  California  that  the  Chinese  should  emigrate,  partly 
to  stimulate  business  in  China,  partly  to  increase  production 
on  all  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific,  and  partly  to  provide  numer- 
ous skilled  laborers,  who  will  go  back  to  their  native  country 
and  help  to  build  up  their  manufactories  of  iron,  cotton,  silk, 
wool,  etc.,  with  the  help  of  steam.  China  has  the  coal,  the 
iron,  the  labor,  and  the  capital,  and  when  the  skill  shall  be  pro- 
vided, the  work  will  soon  be  done.  Our  prosperity  is  intim- 
ately associated  with  that  of  our  Asiatic  neighbors. 


48  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

§  39.  Indians. — The  Indians  are  a  miserable  race,  destined 
to  speedj^  extinction.  Twenty-five  years  ago  they  numbered 
fifty  thousand  or  more ;  now  there  may  be  seven  thousand  of 
them.  They  were  driven  from  their  hunting-grounds  and 
fishing  places  by  the  whites,  and  they  stole  cattle  for  food  ; 
and  to  punish  and  prevent  their  stealing,  the  whites  made  war 
on  them  and  slew  them.  Such  has  been  the  origin  of  most  of 
the  Indian  wars  which  have  raged  in  various  parts  of  the  State 
at  intervals  since  1849.  The  poor  Indian,  afoot,  and  armed 
only  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  is  no  match  for  the  rich  Ameri- 
can, armed  with  rifle  and  revolver,  and  mounted  on  a  horse, 
which  saves  him  from  fatigue,  takes  him  swiftly  to  the  best 
point  of  attack,  or  carries  him  still  more  swiftly  from  danger. 
For  every  white  man  that  has  been  killed,  fifty  Indians  have 
fallen. 

In  1848,  nearly  every  little  valley  had  its  tribe,  and  there 
were  dozens  of  tribes  in  the  Sacramento  basin  ;  but  now  most 
of  these  tribes  have  been  entirely  destroyed.  Disease  and 
brandy  have  cooperated  with  the  bullet  and  the  knife,  to  make 
room  for  the  white  men.  The  Indians  are  fond  of  strong 
liquor,  and  when  they  can  get  it,  frequently  become  habitual 
drunkards.  The  squaws  drink  as  much  as  the  "  bucks." 
Among  a  tribe  of  drunken  men  and  women,  matrimonial  con- 
stancy is  not  to  be  expected ;  nor  is  it  found  among  the  Indian 
women  in  California.  The  infectious  disease  which  threatens 
to  utterly  destroy  all  barbarous  and  semi-barbarous  nations, 
has  slain  many  of  the  red  men  in  this  State,  as  well  as  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent. 

The  Indians  of  California,  with  the  exception  of  the  Mojaves, 
are  supposed  to  belong  to  the  general  division  of  the  Shosho- 
nees,  which  includes  also  the  Indians  of  Nevada,  and  a  major- 
ity of  those  in  Utah.  They  are  physically  and  intellectually 
inferior  to  their  relatives  in  Nevada,  and  far  inferior  to  the 
Indians  who  dwelt  during  the  last  century  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River.  The  red  men  of  this  State  have  but  a  small 


SOCIETY.  49 

share  of  the  courage,  military  spirit,  and  intellectual  activity 
of  the  Shawnees,  Miamis,  Delawares,  and  the  other  tribes  who 
contended  so  stoutly  for  the  possessi6n  of  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio.  The  majority  of  the  Californian  Indians  never  learned 
to  use  fire-arms,  and  never  dared  to  meet  the  white  men  in 
battle.  A  few  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  have  rifles, 
use  them  well,  and  fight  stubbornly,  but  they  are  a  small  pro- 
portion. 

The  Californian  Indian  men  are  about  five  feet  and  a  half 
high  on  an  average,  and  the  women  four  feet  and  ten  inches. 
They  are  very  thick  in  the  chest,  and  have  voices  of  wonderful 
strength.  The  children  are  clumsy,  and  heavy  set.  The  women 
are  very  wide  in  the  shoulders  and  hips,  and  strongly  built. 
Men  and  women  are  large  in  the  body,  and  slim  in  the 
legs  and  arms,  as  compared  with  Caucasians.  When  not 
aifected  by  hereditary  diseases,  caught  from  the  white  men, 
the  Californian  Indians  have  healthy  constitutions,  and  for- 
merly they  lived  to  a  great  age.  During  the  last  ten  years,  a 
number  have  died,  with  the  reputation  of  being  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  old.  It  is  a  common  assertion  that 
the  wild  Indians  never  take  cold.  During  the  winter  of  1849- 
'50,  I  lived  near  a  tribe  in  the  mines,  in  what  is  now  Shasta 
County,  and  I  saw  that  the  men  never  wore  any  clothing  save 
a  deerskin  thrown  over  the  shoulders ;  that  men,  women,  and 
children  went  barefooted  through  a  winter  when  snow  lay  on 
the  ground  for  a  week  at  a  time,  and  that  their  huts  were  only 
about  six  feet  wide,  were  open  on  all  sides,  and  on  two  sides 
had  holes  large  enough  for  men  to  get  in  and  out ;  and  I  never 
saw  one  troubled  with  a  cold  or  cough.  In  the  tribes  living 
far  from  the  whites,  the  men  usually  go  naked,  and  the  women 
wear  a  petticoat  made  by  fastening  flags  or  strips  of  bark, 
about  eighteen  inches  long,  to  a  girdle.  They  are  filthy  in 
their  habits,  and  thejir  houses  are  always  filled  with  vermin. 
Their  form  of  government  is  simple.  They  have  hereditary 
chiefs  who  have  little  power.  The  tribes  are  small,  and  have 
4 


50  RESOURCES    OF  CALIFORNIA. 

no  wealth  and  no  laws.  Occasionally  a  member  of  a  tribe 
gives  offense,  and  some  of  the  leaders  agree  to  kill  him,  and 
the  sentence  is  carried  into  effect  by  waylaying  him  and 
shooting  him  with  arrows.  Their  rule  is.  blood  for  blood. 
They  rarely  keep  men  prisoners,  but  kill  adult  male  captives 
immediately.  Women  and  children  are  held  frequently  as 
prisoners ;  and  one  of  the  most  common  causes  of  war  is  the 
capture  of  women.  They  have  no  hereditary  slavery. 
They  have  no  marriage  ceremony,  and  the  duration  of  the 
marriage  relation  depends  entirely  upon  the  pleasure  of  the 
husband.  Polygamy  is  permitted  by  many  of  the  tribes. 
The  women  are  not  prolific,  or  at  least  the  children  are  few, 
and  mostly  boys.  The  girls  are  neglected,  or  intentionally 
killed  soon  after  birth,  and  this  policy  would,  if  continued, 
soon  cause  an  extinction  of  the  race  in  California.  In 
certain  tribes  on  the  northern  coast,  if  a  mother,  having 
an  infant  child,  dies,  the  child  is  buried  with  her.  Most  of 
the  tribes  burn  their  dead,  commencing  the  cremation  in  the 
evening,  and  keeping  up  the  fire  all  night,  while  the  friends 
watch,  and  the  women  relatives  utter  plaintive  cries  until  day- 
light. They  have  no  religious  ceremonies  ;  or  no  ceremonies 
to  which  they  attach  ideas  clearly  religious.  Every  year, 
usually  in  the  spring,  they  have  a  dance,  as  it  is  called.  They 
assemble,  build  a  large  fire,  and  the  men  surround  it,  and 
keeping  their  knees,  elbows,  and  backs  bent,  they  beat  time 
with  their  feet  to  a  monotonous  song,  which  they  sing  with 
the  assistance  of  the  squaws,  who  sit  off  on  one  side.  In  some 
tribes,  several  of  the  men  have  pipes,  from  which  they  elicit  a 
few  notes  as  ao  accompaniment  for  the  song. 

The  squaws  are  treated  like  slaves.  They  are  required  to 
do  all  the  work,  and  to  attend  to  every  want  of  their  hus- 
bands. They  must  collect  vegetable  food,  prepare  it,  and 
carry  all  the  movable  property  in  times  of  migration.  They 
are  beaten  on  the  slightest  provocation.  The  men  never  con- 
sult them  about  the  management  of  public  or  private  affairs. 


SOCIETY.  51 

They  are  bought  as  merchandise  from  the  parent,  and  treated 
as  slarves  after  the  purchase. 

Most  of  the  wild  Indians  have  no  permanent  place  of  resi- 
dence. Each  tribe  has  a  territory  which  it  considers  its  own, 
and  within  which  its  members  move  about.  Each  family  has 
a  hut,  and  a  cluster  of  these  huts  is  called  a  rancheria.  The 
rancherias  are  usually  established  on  the  banks  of  streams,  in 
the  vicinity  of  oak-trees,  horse-chestnut  bushes,  and  patches  of 
wild  clover.  Such  places  are  generally  on  fertile  soil,  with  pic- 
turesque scenery.  In  the  Sacramento  Valley  the  most  common 
plan  for  a  hut  was  to  dig  a  hole  three  or  four  feet  deep  and 
ten  feet  across ;  erect  an  upright  post  in  the  center,  about  six 
feet  high ;  lay  poles  from  the  edge  of  the  hole  to  rest  on  this 
post,  and  cover  the  poles  with  grass  and  then  with  dirt.  In 
some  districts  the  hut  is  made  by  taking  large  pieces  of  pine 
bark  and  laying  them  against  a  frame- work  of  poles  fastened 
together  in  a  conical  shape.  In  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  it 
was  more  convenient  to  make  a  frame-work  of  poles,  and 
cover  it  with  rushes  or  tules.  These  huts  may  be  deserted  for 
a  time,  but  are  considered  the  property  of  the  builders,  who 
move,  according  to  the  seasons,  to  those  places  where  they  can 
obtain  food  most  conveniently.  In  one  month  they  go  to  the 
thickets ;  in  another,  to  the  open  plain ;  in  another,  to  the 
streams. 

Their  food  is  composed  chiefly  of  acorns,  clover,  grass,  grass 
seeds,  grasshoppers,  horse-chestnuts,  fish,  game,  pine-nuts,  edible 
roots  and  berries.  The  acorns  of  California  are  large,  abund- 
ant, and  some  of  them  are  not  unpleasant  to  the  taste,  but 
they  do  not  contain  much  nutriment  as  compared  with  an 
equal  bulk  of  those  articles  commonly  used  for  food  by  the 
Caucasian  race.  The  acorns  are  gathered  by  the  squaws,  and 
are  preserved  in  various  methods.  The  most  common  plan  is 
to  build  a  basket  with  twigs  and  rushes  in  an  oak  tree,  and 
keep  the  acorns  there.  The  acorns  are  prepared  for  eating  by 
grinding  them  and  boiling  them  with  water  into  a  thick  paste, 


52  KESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

or  by  baking  them  in  bread.  The  oven  is  a  hole  in  the  ground 
about  eighteen  inches  cubic.  Bed-hot  stones  are  placed  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hole,  a  little  dry  sand  or  loam  is  thrown  over 
them,  and  next  comes  a  layer  of  dry  leaves.  The  dough  or 
paste  is  poured  into  the  hole  until  it  is  two  inches  or  three 
inches  deep.  Then  comes  another  layer  of  leaves,  more  sand, 
red-hot  stones,  and  finally  dirt.  At  the  end  of  five  or  six 
hours  the  oven  has  cooled  down,  and  the  bread  is  taken  out, 
an  irregular  mass,  nearly  black  in  color,  not  at  all  handsome 
to  the  eye  or  agreeable  to  the  palate,  and  mixed  with  leaves 
and  dirt.  For  grinding  the  acorns,  a  stone  mortar  is  used. 
This  mortar  is  sometimes  nearly  flat,  with  a  hollow  not  more 
than  two  inches  deep ;  and  occasionally  one  will  be  seen  fifteen 
inches  deep,  and  not  more  than  three  inches  thick  in  any  part 
of  it.  The  pestle  is  of  stone,  round,  ten  inches  long  and  three 
thick. 

Horse-chestnuts  are  usually  made  into  a  gruel  or  soup.  Af- 
ter being  ground  in  the  mortar,  they  are  mixed  with  water  in 
a  waterproof  basket,  into  which  red-hot  stones  are  thrown,  and 
thus  the  soup  is  cooked.  As  the  stones  when  taken  from  the 
fire  have  dirt  and  ashes  adhering  to  them,  the  soup  is  not 
clean,  and  it  often  sets  the  teeth  on  edge. 

Grass-seeds  are  ground  in  the  mortar,  and  roasted  or  made 
into  soup. 

Grasshoppers  are  roasted,  and  eaten  without  further  prepara- 
tion, or  mashed  up  with  berries. 

Fish  and  meat  are  broiled  on  the  coals.  The  intestines  and 
blood  are  eaten,  as  well  as  the  muscle. 

Clover  and  grass  are  eaten  raw.  The  Indians  go  out  into 
the  clover  patches,  pull  up  the  clover  with  their  hands,  and 
eat  stalks,  leaves,  and  flowers.  They  consider  clover  a  great 
blessing,  and  get  fat  on  it. 

The  Indians  rarely  have  salt  and  spices,  and  most  of  their 
food  is  such  as  a  white  man  could  not  eat,  unless  reduced  to 
near  starvation.  In  eating  they  bave  no  plates,  cups,  knives, 


SOCIETY.  53 

or  forks,  nor  do  they  use  any  utensils  in  preparing  their  food, 
save  the  mortar  and  waterproof  basket.  The  pine-nuts,  edi- 
ble roots,  and  berries,  are  eaten  raw.  Bugs,  lizards,  and  snakes 
are  all  considered  good  for  food.  In  those  places  where  the 
tules  grow,  the  roots  of  those  rushes  are  eaten.  Except  one  or 
two  tribes  in  the  Colorado  Desert,  the  wild  Indians  of  California 
never  tilled  the  soil. 

They  use  very  few  tools.  The  bow  was  the  only  weapon 
for  killing  quadrupeds.  It  is  made  of  a  reddish  wood,  said  to 
be  the  western  yew,  and  on  the  back  the  bow  is  strengthened 
with  a  covering  of  deer's  sinews.  The  arrows  are  of  reed,  and 
have  a  head  made  of  obsidian,  a  transparent,  vitreous  sub- 
stance of  volcanic  origin,  in  appearance  very  similar  to  a  coarse 
quality  of  glass.  The  arrow-heads  are  made  two  inches 
long,  half  an  inch  wide,  and  an  eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  with 
a  very  sharp  point  and  sharp  edges.  The  head  is  fastened  in  a 
split  of  the  shaft  of  the  arrow  by  tying  with  deer's  sinews. 
Such  an  arrow-head  can  be  used  but  once,  for  the  obsidian  is 
as  brittle  as  glass  and  breaks  at  the  first  shock.  Some  tribes, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  poison  their  arrows  by  irri- 
tating a  rattlesnake  and  then  thrusting  forward  a  fresh  deer's 
liver,  which  it  will  bite.  After  it  has  bitten  repeatedly,  and 
thrown  some  of  its  poison  at  every  bite  into  the  liver,  the  lat- 
ter is  buried  and  allowed  to  putrefy.  It  is  then  dug  up,  the 
arrow-head  is  dipped  in  it,  and  allowed  to  dry.  An  arrow  thus 
poisoned  will  kill  a  man,  a  horse,  or  an  ox  in  twenty-four 
hours,  or  less  time ;  and  it  is  said  that  the  meat  of  an  animal 
thus  killed  may  be  eaten  with  safety.  I  know  that  the  Indi- 
ans eat  the  meat  of  animals  killed  with  poisoned  arrows, 
but  I  am  not  positive  that  the  poison  was  prepared  in  this 
manner.  The  poison  of  a  rattlesnake  is  not  injurious  when 
taken  into  a  sound  stomach  :  it  is  only  when  injected  into  the 
blood  that  its  injurious  influences  are  felt.  The  arrows,  even 
when  not  poisoned,  make  very  dangerous  wounds,  for  the  sinew 
used  to  fasten  the  head  soon  softens,  and  allows  the  head 
to  remain  when  the  shaft  is  pulled  out. 


54  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  Indians  are  very  familiar  with  the  habits  of  wild  ani- 
mals. They  know  precisely  the  character  of  the  brushwood 
and  ravines  in  which  the  deer  and  bear  hide  during  the  day, 
and  the  places  to  which  they  go  to  feed  in  the  morning  and 
evening.  In  hunting  deer  and  antelope,  in  places  where  there 
is  grass  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  high,  the  Indian  will  often 
hold  the  skull  and  horns  of  a  buck  deer  before  him,  and  thus 
crawl  within  bow  shot.  The  Pit  River  Indians  dig  pits  about 
five  feet  cubic,  and  cover  them  with  brush  and  grass,  and  thus 
catch  deer,  hares,  and  so  forth.  For  catching  wild  geese,  vari- 
ous small  and  simple  kinds  of  nets  are  used,  and  they  are 
knocked  down  with  clubs.  Salmon  are  killed  with  stones  and 
clubs  in  shallow  water,  and  are  caught  with  spears.  Their 
most  ingenious  spear  has  a  head  of  bone  about  one  inch  and  a 
half  long,  and  sharp  at  both  ends.  To  the  middle  is  fastened  a 
string,  which  is  attached  to  the  spear-shaft.  One  end  of  the 
head  fits  in  a  socket  at  the  end  of  the  spear-shaft.  When  the 
spear  is  thrown,  the  head  comes  out  of  the  socket  and  turns 
cross-ways  in  the  fish,  and  then  there  is  no  danger  that  it  will 
tear  out.  The  Indians  rarely  hunt  the  grizzly  bear.  Along 
the  ocean  beach  they  get  barnacles.  Their  method  of  catching 
grasshoppers  is  to  dig  a  hole  several  feet  deep,  in  a  valley 
where  this  species  of  game  abounds.  A  large  number  of  the 
Indians  then  arm  themselves  with  bushes,  and  commence  at  a 
distance  to  drive  the  grasshoppers  from  all  sides  toward  the 
hole,  into  which  the  insects  finally  fall,  and  from  which  they 
cannot  escape.  The  pine-nuts  are  sought  at  the  tops  of  the 
pine-trees,  which  the  "  bucks  "  ascend  by  holding  to  the  rough 
bark  with  their  hands,  and  pressing  out  with  their  legs,  so  that 
they  .do  not  touch  the  body  to  the  trunk  of  the  tree  in  going 
up.  It  is  more  like  walking  than  climbing. 

The  bow  and  arrow,  the  spear,  the  net,  the  obsidian  knife, 
the  mortar,  and  the  basket,  are  the  only  tools  made  by  the 
Indian.  The  obsidian  knife  is  merely  a  piece  of  obsidian,  as 
large  as  a  hand,  and  sharp  on  one  side.  The  baskets  are  all 


SOCIETY.  55 

made  of  wire-grass,  a  grass  with  a  round  jointless  stem,  about 
a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  thick  and  a  foot  long.  The  basket- 
work  made  with  this  wire-grass  resembles  the  texture  of  a 
coarse  Panama  hat,  and  is  waterproof.  All  the  basket-work 
of  the  Californian  Indians  is  made  of  this  material.  The  most 
common  shape  for  the  basket  is  a  perpendicular  half  of  a  cone, 
three  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches  wide,  open  at  the  top. 
The  basket,  carried  on  the  backs  of  the  squaws,  is  used  for 
carrying  food,  miscellaneous  articles,  and  children.  Neither 
the  Californian  Indians  of  the  present,  nor  of  any  preceding 
century,  made  such  mounds,  circumvallations,  arrow-heads,  or 
spear-heads  of  .flint,  or  pipes  and  battle-axes  of  stone,  as  are 
found  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that 
any  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  previous  to  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards,  were  above  a  very  low  degree  of  savagism. 
They  have  no  domestic  animals  save  the  dog,  and  that  of 
a  small  kind.  They  have  so  little  skill  in  the  preservation  of 
food,  that,  like  wild  beasts,  they  grow  grossly  fat  in  the  spring 
and  poor  in  the  winter.  The  Mojave  Indians,  in  the  Colorado 
Desert,  depend  for  their  subsistence  chiefly  on  cultivated  food. 
They  plant  wheat,  grass,  pumpkins,  and  muskmelons.  After 
the  annual  overflow  of  the  bottom  land,  a  small  patch  of 
ground  is  cleared  off  with  the  help  of  knives  and  fire  ;  then 
small  holes  are  made,  the  seeds  are  deposited,  and  the  field  is 
left  to  grow  up  as  well  as  it  may.  The  muskmelons  are  eaten 
fresh  ;  the  pumpkins  are  eaten  fresh,  or  sliced  and  dried  ;  the 
wheat  and  grass-seeds  are  ground,  made  into  a  paste  with 
water,  and  dried  in  cakes.  The  mezquit  bean,  next  to  the  cul- 
tivated grains,  pumpkins,  and  squashes,  is  the  most  important 
article  of  food  with  the  Indians  of  the  Colorado  Desert.  These 
beans  are  prepared  for  eating  in  the  same  manner  with  the 
wheat  and  grass-seed. 

The  preceding  remarks  relate  to  the  wild  Indians  only,  and 
are  intended  to  illustrate  the  natural  habits,  character,  and 
capacity  of  the  race.  During  the  last  fifteen  years,  however, 


56  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

they  have  all  been  influenced  so  much  by  intercourse  with  the 
whites,  that  they  have  lost  many  of  their  wild  habits  and  ac- 
quired new  ones.  In  some  districts  they  have  fire-arms ;  in 
others  they  obtain  much  of  their  food  and  clothing  from  their 
Caucasian  neighbors.  In  the  counties  along  the  southern 
coast,  there  are  many  civilized  Indians,  who  live  in  adobe 
houses,  and  support  themselves  by  herding  cattle,  breaking 
horses,  and  working  in  the  grain  fields,  orchards,  and  vine- 
yards. They  have  lost  much  of  the  savage  expression  of 
countenance,  and  some  of  them  have  become  very  industrious 
and  trustworthy  laborers;  but  the  majority  are  idle  and  dissi- 
pated in  their  habits.  They  have  all  learned  a  vulgar  dialect 
of  the  Spanish,  and  a  few  speak  a  little  English.  The  young- 
er ones  know  nothing  of  any  tongue  save  English  and  Span- 
ish, but  the  elder  Indians,  when  talking  with  one  another,  pre- 
fer to  use  the  language  of  their  fathers. 

§  40.  Mining  Towns. — The  towns  of  California  are  seaport, 
inlandport,  railroad,  agricultural,  and  mining.  The  mining 
towns  enjoyed  their  greatest  prosperity  from  1852  to  1860. 
Weaverville,  Shasta,  Oroville,  Quincy ,  Nevada,  Auburn,  Down- 
ieville,  San  Andreas,  Jackson,  Sonoma,  and  Mariposa,  are  the 
county-seats  of  various  mining  counties.  Most  of  them  are 
built  with  crooked  streets  through  the  middle  of  a  canon, 
which  near  the  middle  is  densely  lined  with  stores,  billiard 
rooms,  liquor  shops,  and  restaurants.  The  dwellings  are  scat- 
tered about  irregularly  :  some  are  neatly  built  and  are  sur- 
rounded with  pleasant  gardens  ;  the  majority  are  miserable 
little  shanties  or  log-cabins,  with  no  yard,  flowers,  or  fruit- 
trees  to  give  an  appearance  of  home.  The  population  is  not 
permanent.  One  year  the  people  are  here,  next  they  are  else- 
where. In  1854  Oroville  was  laid  out;  in  1857  it  cast  one 
thousand  votes,  in  1860  its  glory  had  departed,  and  at  least  a 
dozen  towns  have  now  a  larger  population  and  a  larger  trade. 
Copperopolis  has  now  a  population  of  about  200  ;  in  1864  it 
cast  564  votes.  Columbia  in  1860  cast  1,008,  and  in  1873, 


SOCIETY.  57 

341  votes.  Mokelumne  Hill  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the 
leading  towns  of  the  State ;  now  it  has  very  little  importance. 
Nevada  and  Grass  Valley  have  suffered  less  decline  than  any 
other  gold-mining  towns  which  were  prominent  fifteen  years 
ago ;  the  former  had  3,986  and  the  latter  7,063  inhabitants  in 
1870.  The  mines  in  their  vicinity  are  not  yet  exhausted. 
From  1860  to  1864,  when  the  main  traffic  across  the  Sierra 
Nevada  passed  through  Placerville,  that  was  one  of  the  busi- 
est towns  in  the  State. 

§  41.  Inland  Ports. — Sacramento,  at  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion for  large  river  steamers,  and  Red  Bluff  for  small  steamers 
on  the  Sacramento,  and  Marysville  for  small  steamers  on  the 
Feather  River,  are  the  only  places  that  could  properly  be 
called  river  ports.  The  slough  ports  are  San  Rafael,  Peta- 
luma,  Napa,  Suisun,  Stockton,  Pacheco,  Oakland,  Union  City, 
Alviso,  and  Redwood.  All  these  inland  ports,  save  Union 
City,  Alviso,  and  Pacheco,  have  been  supplied  with  railroads, 
but  Red  Bluff,  Suisun,  Stockton  and  Petaluma  have  been 
seriously  injured  by  the  railroad  influence.  Slough  traffic  is 
still  maintained,  but  it  has  lost  much  of  its  importance. 

§  42.  Railroad  Towns. — Before  the  San  Joaquin  Valley 
Railroad  had  been  built,  the  towns  of  Empire  and  Paradise 
were  established  on  the  Stanislaus  River,  and  Tuolumne  City 
on  the  Tuolumne  River ;  but  the  iron  track  passed  to  the 
west  of  them,  and  they  were  moved  to  the  road.  It  is  the 
misfortune  of  Visalia  and  Shasta  that  they  are  not  on  the 
main  road  passing  through  the  middle  of  the  Sacramento - 
San  Joaquin  basin,  and  Yreka  is  in  danger  of  being  left  at 
one  side,  by  the  California  and  Oregon  Railroad.  The  towns 
which  have  derived  the  most  benefit  from  the  railroads,  are 
Oakland,  Vallejo,  Sacramento,  Napa,  Calistoga,  Santa  Rosa, 
Healdsburg,  Cloverdale,  San  Jose,  Gilroy,  and  Salinas ;  and 
with  the  exception  of  San  Jose,  all  were  founded  by  Ameri- 
cans. The  railroad  system  of  the  State  will  probably,  at  no 
distant  time,  reach  the  southern  coast,  and  give  activity  and 
population  to  many  of  the  old  Spanish  settlements. 


58  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

§  43.  San  Francisco. — San  Francisco,  styled  figuratively 
the  Golden  City,  the  metropolis  of  the  finance,  commerce, 
manufactures,  and  fashion  of  the  Pacific  Coast  of  North 
America,  is  situated  in  latitude  37°  48',  about  the  same  dis- 
tance from  the  equator  as  Richmond,  Lisbon,  Palermo,  Ath- 
ens, Smyrna,  and  Yeddo,  and  four  miles  from  the  Pacific  Ocean 
on  the  western  shore  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  The  climate  is 
cool  throughout  the  year,  never  cold  enough  to  freeze,  and 
seldom  hot  enough  to  make  light  clothing  comfortable.  The 
average  temperature  of  January,  the  coldest  month,  is  49°, 
and  of  September,  the  warmest  month,  58°  Fahrenheit,  the 
difference  being  only  nine  degrees ;  whereas  the  difference  be- 
tween January  and  July  is  42°  in  New  York,  25°  in  London, 
and  30P  in  Naples.  No  other  city  in  the  temperate  zone  has 
a  climate  so  equable  as  that  of  San  Francisco  ;  none  in  any 
zone  has  a  temperature  better  suited  for  the  growth  of  physi- 
cal health  and  development,  or  for  the  intellectual  and  physi- 
cal activity  of  man.  The  climate  is  so  cool  in  summer  that 
sunny  exposures  are  preferred  for  residences,  and  shade  trees 
are  very  few.  In  our  parks^  and  ornamental  grounds  we  pre- 
fer low,  bushy  evergreens,  not  tall,  wide-spreading,  deciduous 
trees.  The  peninsula  of  San  Francisco  has  a  poor  soil,  and  is 
bare  of  trees.  During  the  late  winter  and  spring  the  surround- 
ing hills  are  covered  with  green  grass,  but  in  the  summer,  fall, 
and  early  winter,  the  adjacent  country  and  the  city  itself  have 
a  cheerless,  dirty,  yellow  look. 

The  people  are  mostly  Americans  by  birth,  but  there  are  also 
many  English,  Irish,  French,  Germans,  Italians,  Spanish- Amer- 
icans, Scandinavians,  Dalmatians,  and  Chinese.  There  are 
French,  German,  Italian,  and  Spanish  newspapers ;  French,  Ger- 
man, and  Chinese  churches,  and  French,  German,  and  Chinese 
theatrical  companies,  which  perform  occasionally.  The  relig- 
ions in  which  public  services  are  regularly  held  are :  Jewish, 
Buddhist,  Catholic,  Protestant,  and  Spiritualist.  The  city 
has  twenty-eight  Protestant  and  ten  Catholic  churches,  two 


SOCIETY.  59 

Jewish  synagogues,  and  six  buildings  in  which  Buddhist  cere- 
monies are  occasionally  held.  The  most  splendid  edifice  de- 
voted to  purposes  of  worship  in  the  city  is  the  Synagogue 
Emanu-El.  An  Episcopal  Bishop  and  a  Catholic  Archbishop 
reside  here.  Among  the  Protestant  churches  are  five  Presby- 
terian, four  Congregationalist,  three  Baptist,  eight  Methodist, 
four  Episcopal,  three  Lutheran,  and  one  Unitarian.  If,  how- 
ever, church-going  be  necessary  to  religion,  then  it  might  be 
said  that  the  majority  of  the  people  have  no  religion.  On 
pleasant  Sundays  the  cars  and  ferries  are  crowded  with  persons 
going  out  into  the  suburbs  or  the  country,  to  visit  places  of 
amusement,  or  to  stroll  about  and  enjoy  the  fresh  air.  Re- 
ligious prejudices  are  not  strong.  Protestant,  Catholic,  and 
Jew  associate  together  in  business  and  society  with  the  utmost 
friendliness,  as  if  it  were  better  to  agree  about  the  affairs  of 
this  world  than  to  quarrel  about  those  of  another.  When  any 
important  financial,  social,  or  political  movement  is  on  foot, 
the  managers  are  not  satisfied  unless  all  classes  are  brought  in 
and  represented.  The  daily  press  treat  all  forms  of  faith  with 
equal  respect,  and  frown  upon  all  attempts  to  excite  religious 
animosities.  No  church  monopolizes  the  business,  the  wealth, 
the  intelligence,  or  the  political  government  of  the  city.  The 
Catholics  have  the  most  compact  religious  organization,  the 
Jews  have  a  large  portion  of  the  importing  and  treasure  trade, 
and  the  Protestants  or  persons  of  Protestant  descent  hold  most 
of  the  offices.  Under  such  circumstances,  religious  bigotry 
cannot  thrive. 

There  are  a  vast  number  of  benevolent  and  social  associa- 
tions in  the  city.  There  are  two  Jewish,  one  German,  one 
French,  one  Spanish,  one  Scandinavian,  one  Italian,  one  Swiss, 
one  Dalmatian,  and  one  City  Benevolent  Societies,  fifteen  Ma- 
sonic Lodges,  nine  Odd  Fellow  Lodges,  and  at  least  one  each 
of  the  B'nai  B'rith,  Druids,  American  Protestant  Association, 
American  Mechanics,  Seven  Wise  Men,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Independent  Red  Men,  Improved  Red  Men,  and  Ancient  Or- 


60  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

der  of  Knights.  The  Catholic  Church  maintains  two  Orphan 
Asylums,  a  hospital,  and  a  Magdalen  Asylum.  The  Protest- 
ants have  an  Orphan  Asylum,  and  an  association  for  the  re- 
lief of  destitute  women.  The  German  and  French  Benevo- 
lent Societies  have  each  a  fine  hospital. 

San  Francisco  is,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  the  busiest  seaport 
of  the  world.  No  other  city  twice  as  large  has  so  large  a  trade. 
The  annual  exports  are  about  $70,000,000,  the  imports  nearly 
as  much,  the  manufactures  are  worth  nearly  $20,000,000,  the 
real  estate  sales  amount  to  about  $12,000,000,  and  the  cash 
value  of  the  land,  buildings,  and  movable  property  of  the  city, 
is  about  $300,000,000.  We  send  away  about  forty  tons  of 
silver  and  six  tons  of  gold  every  month — the  former  metal  in 
bars  fifteen  inches  long  and  five  inches  square  ;  the  latter  in 
small  bars  about  six  inches  long,  three  inches  wide,  and  two 
inches  thick.  Wagons  loaded  with  the  precious  metals  are 
seen  in  the  streets  nearly  every  day.  The  profits  of  mer- 
chants and  the  wages  of  mechanics  and  laborers  are  high. 

In  the  matter  of  public  amusements,  the  city  is  destined  to 
become  eminent.  The  mild  winters  and  cool  summers  are  fa- 
vorable to  out-door  life.  The  people  spend  much  of  their 
time  in  the  open  air.  Processions,  picnics,  excursions,  and 
public  displays  are  frequent.  Dancing  is  in  fashion  through- 
out the  year.  Two  theaters  are  open  almost  constantly,  and 
we  have  an  opera  season  every  year,  besides  numerous  con- 
certs and  lectures.  Those  who  wish  to  go  out  in  a  buggy, 
usually  drive  to  the  splendid  ocean  beach,  on  a  romantic  road, 
over  the  hills  west  of  the  city.  The  spring  and  early  summer, 
when  the  country  is  green,  is  the  season  for  leaving  the  city. 
The  number,  however,  of  those  who  come  to  San  Francisco  for 
pleasure,  is  much  greater  than  of  those  who  leave  it.  Every- 
body who  lives  on  the  Pacific  slope  wants  to  make  a  home  in 
this  city,  or  at  least  to  spend  some  time  here.  The  miner  who 
has  made  a  successful  strike,  the  farmer  who  has  a  good  crop, 
the  lawyer  who  has  accumulated  a  nice  property  by  practice 


SOCIETY.  61 

in  the  interior,  looks  forward  to  the  day  when  he  can  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  his  labor  in  the  metropolis  of  the  Pacific.  There 
is  a  multitude,  a  variety,  and  a  rapid  succession  of  entertain- 
ments, unequaled  by  any  city  of  the  New  World,  save  New 
York.  The  most  costly  productions,  and  the  greatest  delica- 
cies of  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  are  here  collected.  Kearny 
Street,  though  shorter  than  Broadway,  is  not  less  brilliant. 
Our  hotels  are  palatial  in  size,  furniture,  cost,  and  style  of 
management.  When  we  see  a  city  not  yet  out  of  her  teens 
rivaling  in  luxuries  the  capitals  of  Europe,  what  grandeur  may 
we  not  expect  for  her  maturer  years  ? 

San  Francisco  has  the  misfortune  of  standing  upon  the  bare, 
treeless,  and  sandy  point  of  a  peninsula,  where  constant  winds 
render  it  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  train  up  any  shrubbery  ex- 
cept under  the  immediate  shelter  of  a  house  or  fence.  T.he 
city  has  few  large  private  gardens,  and  its  only  large  park  is 
still  new  and  its  trees  young  and  small.  The  western  portion 
of  the  municipal  territory  is  a  waste  of  sand,  and  much  of  the 
southern  is  a  waste  of  high  hills  ;  and  yet  for  pleasant  drives, 
and  romantic  scenery  in  the  vicinity,  San  Francisco  has  no  su- 
perior. The  view  from  the  Long  Bridge  on  a  quiet  evening 
is  very  pleasant,  and  without  a  parallel  in  the  United  States. 
A  beach  with  an  uninterrupted  surf  like  ours  would  make  the 
fortune  of  an  Atlantic  watering  place.  The  sea  lions  are  an 
attraction,  without  their  like  elsewhere.  Saucelito,  north  of 
the  Golden  Gate,  and  only  four  miles  distant,  is  a  very  roman- 
tic place. 

San  Francisco  has  a  number  of  views  unsurpassed  for  extent 
in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities.  Rome  had  seven  hills  :  the  me- 
tropolis of  California  has  we  know  not  how  many.  It  may  be 
said  that  she  is  divided  into  three  amphitheaters,  each  enclosed 
by  hills  on  three  sides :  the  amphitheater  of  Yerba  Buena, 
east  of  Russian  Hill ;  the  amphitheater  of  Spring  Valley,  west 
of  Russian  Hill ;  and  the  amphitheatre  of  the  Mission,  south 
of  Pine  Street  Hill.  From  the  hill-tops  we  see  the  city,  and  a 


62  RESOURCES    OP   CALIFORNIA. 

large  area  of  surrounding  country.  Telegraph  Hill  is  300 
feet  high,  Russian  Hill  360,  and  Lone  Mountain  400  feet. 

Looking  out  Market  Street  we  see,  two  miles  from  Mont- 
gomery Street,  two  peaks  which  rise  to  a  thousand  feet,  and 
command  a  view  of  40  miles  distant  north,  south,  and  east, 
and  20  miles  west.  Eight  miles  south  of  the  city  is  Mount 
San  Bruno,  1,500  feet  high;  20  miles  north  is  Tarnalpais, 
2,600  feet  high ;  and  35  miles  eastward  is  Mount  Diablo,  3,856 
feet  high. 

The  population  of  San  Francisco  was  149,473  in  1870,  ac- 
cording to  the  Federal  Census. 

H.  G.  Langley,  who  has  taken  much  care  to  compile  an 
annual  directory  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  has  devoted 
special  attention  to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  asserts  that 
it  was  188,000  on  the  1st  of  March,  1873.  He  says : 

The  following1  estimate  of  the  population  of  this  city  has  been  pre- 
pared from  careful  investigation  made  during  the  progress  of  the  can- 
vass for  the  present  volume,  and  other  reliable  data  ;  and  in  directing 
attention  thereto,  the  compiler  believes  that  the  aggregate  presented  is 
a  fair  approximation  to  the  actual  number : 

White  Males  over  twenty-one 60, 197 

"      Females  over  eighteen  (estimated) 37, 100 

"      Males  under  twenty-one  (estimated) 38,641 

"      Females  under  eighteen  (estimated) 33>435 

"      Males,  namss  refused,  and  foreigners  not  taken  in  the 

canvass  (estimated) 1, 800 

Chinese,  Male  and  Female 11,000 

Colored,  Male  and  Female i  ,550 

Total  permanent  population  183,723 

To  which  should  be  added  a  large  element  of  our  population 
known  as  "  floating,"  which  consists  of:  1st.  Transient  board- 
ers, etc.,  at  hotels,  boarding-houses,  etc.  2d.  Soldiers  at  the 
fortifications  in  the  harbor.  3d.  Persons  engaged  in  navigat- 
ing the  bay,  who  claim  the  city  as  their  residence.  4th.  In- 
mates of  Alms  House,  hospitals,  and  other  charitable  institu- 
tions, County  Jail,  etc.  5th.  A  large  number  of  persons  who 
have  no  permanent  place  of  abode  :  together  amounting  to 
about 4,600 

Total  population,  March  I,  1873 188,323 


SOCIETY.  63 

According  to  Langley,  the  number  of  buildings  in  March, 
1872,  was  20,287,  including  4,720  of  brick,  and  15,807  of 
wood,  and  in  the  year  following,  six  hundred  additional  build- 
ings were  erected. 

The  first  house  was  built  in  1835,  and  the  place  was  then 
called  Yerba  Buena,  Spanish  for  "  good  herb,"  applied  to  a 
species  of  mint  growing  in  the  vicinity.  In  1847  the  name 
was  changed  to  San  Francisco.  In  1846  the  population  was 
six  hundred,  and  had  grown  to  about  one  thousand  in  the 
spring  of  1848,  when  the  gold  fever  broke  out.  During  July, 
August,  and  September,  the  town  was  deserted  by  many  of  its 
residents  ;  but  as  the  people  became  impressed  with  the  rich- 
ness and  extent  of  the  mines,  and  as  adventurers  began  to  ar- 
rive from  abroad,  the  population  of  the  town  increased,  and 
then  suddenly  it  sprang  from  an  obscure  village  to  a  world- 
famous  city.  In  May  and  June,  1850,  and  in  the  same  months 
the  next  year,  great  conflagrations  swept  away  the  wooden 
shanties  with  which  the  main  part  of  the  city  was  built  up  ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  latter  half  of  1851,  that  the  citizens 
commenced  to  erect  the  numerous  line  brick  stores  which  now 
ornament  the  principal  business  streets.  The  sand  ridges  on 
the  site  of  the  city  were  cut  down,  and  the  hollows  were  filled 
in ;  and  the  shallow  cove  in  front  of  the  mainland  was  also 
filled  in,  and  made  the  foundation  for  the  busiest  part  of  the 
town. 

The  hotels  of  San  Francisco  are  famous  for  their  excellence, 
and  also  for  their  cheapness,  as  compared  with  houses  of  equal 
comfort  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Paris,  and  London.  The  Oc- 
cidental and  Cosmopolitan  has  each  accommodations  for  400 
guests,  the  Lick  House  for  350,  and  the  Grand  for  300.  The 
price  at  each  (and  they  are  the  most  costly  houses  in  San 
Francisco)  is  $3  per  day,  for  board  and  lodging.  The  tables 
in  all  are  supplied  with  an  abundance  and  variety  of  the  best 
provisions,  cooked  in  the  best  style.  The  Lick  House  dining 
hall  is  the  most  elegant  room  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States, 


64  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

and  is  superior,  if  report  be  true,  to  the  dining  hall  of  the 
Grand  Hotel  at  Paris.  The  restaurants  of  San  Francisco  are 
unequaled  in  the  United  States. 

§  44.  Sacramento. — Sacramento  City,  the  political  capital 
and  second  town  of  California,  is  situated  near  the  center  of 
the  Sacramento  basin  and  of  the  State — is  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  by  the  course  of  navigation,  and  seventy-five 
miles  in  a  direct  line,  distant  from  the  ocean,  on  the  southeast- 
ern corner  of  land  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Sacramento 
and  American  Rivers,  at  an  elevation  of  fifty  feet  above  the 
sea,  in  latitude  38°  33'  and  longitude  121°  20'.  The  business 
part  of  the  city  is  about  twenty  feet  above  low-water  mark  in 
the  Sacramento  River,  which,  in  front  of  the  town,  during  the 
dry  season,  rises  and  falls  about  a  foot  with  the  tide.  The 
site  is  level,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  wide  plain,  most  of 
which  is  bare  of  trees.  The  streets  are  wide  and  straight,  run 
with  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  and  are  designated 
only  by  numbers  and  letters.  Those  parallel  with  the  Sacra- 
mento are  first,  second,  third,  and  so  forth ;  those  parallel  with 
the  American  are  A,  B,  C,  and  so  on.  The  main  business  part 
of  the  city  is  near  the  Sacramento,  extending  from  First  to 
Sixth,  and  from  H  to  L  streets.  The  houses  and  stores  there 
are  mostly  built  of  brick,  one  or  two  stories  high.  The  streets 
are  gravelled  or  planked ;  the  side- walks  are  planked  or  paved 
with  brick,  and  covered  with  awnings  to  give  protection  against 
the  sun.  In  those  parts  of  the  town  used  for  dwellings,  the 
houses  are  chiefly  of  wood,  neatly  painted,  and  surrounded  by 
gardens ;  and  the  streets  are  lined  with  shade-trees,  such  as  cot- 
tonwood,  willow,  sycamore,  elm,  and  locust.  There  are  water- 
works and  gas-works.  The  water  is  pumped  up  from  the 
Sacramento  River,  which  is  so  turbid,  even  at  its  clearest 
stage,  that  six  inches  of  mud  are  deposited  monthly  in  the 
reservoir. 

The  first  settlement  by  white  men  on  the  site  of  Sacramento 
was  made  in  1839,  by  John  A.  Sutter,  a  Swiss  by  birth,  who, 


SOCIETY.  65 

after  having  served  as  a  captain  in  the  body-guard  of  Charles 
X  of  France,  came  to  the  United  States,  where  he  was  Amer- 
icanized. He  afterwards  came  to  California,  and  was  admitted 
to  Mexican  citizenship.  He  obtained  a  grant  of  eleven  square 
leagues  of  land  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Sacramento  River, 
and  under  that  grant  the  title  to  the  site  of  Sacramento  City  is 
now  held.  In  1841  he  built  some  adobe  buildings,  which  he 
dignified  with  the  title  of  New  Helvetia,  while  to  the  Ameri- 
cans it  was  generally  known  as  "  Sutter's  Fort."  It  was,  for 
a  long  time,  the  only  place  where  white  men  had  a  permanent 
foothold  in  the  Sacramento  basin  ;  and  it  was  a  place  of  im- 
portance,  as  the  first  point  where  the  American  trappers, 
travelers,  and  immigrants,  entering  the  territory  from  the 
eastward,  could  obtain  provisions,  ammunition,  and  horses, 
and  rest  secure  against  Indians.  Sutter  treated  all  comers 
with  the  utmost  generosity  and  liberality  ;  no  white  man  was 
turned  away  because  of  inability  to  pay  for  food  or  lodging. 
The  first  gold  diggings  were  discovered  about  twenty-five 
miles  eastward  from  the  fort,  which  became  the  chief  trading 
point  between  San  Francisco  and  the  mines.  The  adventurers 
ascended  the  Sacramento  River  to  the  mouth  of  the  American, 
where  they  landed,  and  their  goods  were  taken  by  ox-wagons 
to  the  fort,  two  miles  distant,  where  they  prepared  themselves 
for  the  land  journey.  Before  the  first  year  of  gold  mining 
had  come  to  an  end,  it  was  evident  there  must  be  a  town  on 
the  bank  of  the  Sacramento  at  the  mouth  of  the  American  ;  so 
the  present  town  site  was  laid  off  in  October,  1848,  and  the 
New  Year's  day  following,  the  building  of  the  first  house,  (of 
logs)  near  the  Sacramento  River,  was  commenced.  On  the 
8th  of  January  the  lots  were  sold  by  auction,  and  were  des- 
cribed as  lying  in  the  town  of  "  Sacramento."  The  fort  and 
its  vicinity  continued  to  be  the  chief  place  of  business  until 
April,  1849,  when  the  bank  of  the  Sacramento  was  found  to  be 
much  more  convenient  for  purposes  of  business,  and  the  mer- 
chants and  traders  moved.  The  town  very  soon  became  the 
5 


66  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

most  important  center  of  trade  and  population  in  the  State, 
next  to  San  Francisco,  and  it  has  continued  to  hold  the  same 
relative  position,  growing  with  the  growth  of  the  State,  not- 
withstanding many  severe  disasters  to  which  it  has  been  ex- 
posed. In  1851  there  was  a  serious  riot  about  land  titles  ;  on 
the  3d  of  November,  1852,  the  greater  part  of  the  town,  in- 
cluding six  hundred  houses,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  with  a 
pecuniary  loss  estimated  at  the  time  at  $5,000,000  ;  and  the 
city  was  flooded  in  January,  1850,  in  March,  1852,  in  January, 
1853,  in  December,  1861,  and  in  January  and  February, 
1862.  In  1853  the  business  part  of  the  town  was  raised  about 
five  feet,  the  streets  being  filled  in  with  gravel  to  that  depth, 
and  a  levee  or  embankment  was  built  round  the  city,  extend- 
ing about  a  mile  along  the  bank  of  the  Sacramento,  and  three 
or  four  miles  along  the  bank  of  the  American.  The  flood  of 
1861  and  '62  proved  extremely  disastrous.  It  filled  every 
part  of  the  city ;  was  three  feet  deep  in  every  street — in  some 
places  fifteen  feet  deep.  Gardens  were  destroyed,  fences  car- 
ried away,  domestic  animals  drowned,  furniture  ruined,  and 
many  of  the  people  driven  to  take  refuge  in  San  Francisco  and 
other  towns  not  afflicted  by  the  general  scourge.  The  business 
district  has  since  been  raised  above  the  level  of  the  flood  of 
1862,  and  the  embankment  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
coming  from  the  north  is  a  great  protection  to  the  district 
which  has  not  yet  been  filled  in. 

The  town  has  many  elegant  residences  and  gardens,  and  the 
vegetation  is  very  luxuriant  in  the  summer.  E.  B.  Crocker 
has  a  private  gallery  of  oil  paintings,  including  many  of  great 
merit. 

The  State  Capitol  is  286  feet  long,  142  wide,  and  220  high 
to  the  top  of  its  dome ;  and  its  design  is  creditable  as  a  work 
of  architectural  art.  The  cost  was  about  two  and  a  half 
million  dollars. 

The  site  of  the  town  was  badly  chosen,  but  the  establish- 
ment of  the  State  Capitol  there,  and  the  policy  of  the  Cen- 


SOCIETY.  67 

tral  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in  making  it  a  center  for  their 
lines,  and  building  most  of  their  workshops  there,  has  main- 
tained its  prosperity. 

Its  population  in  1870,  according  to  the  Federal  Census,  was 
16,283,  but  20,000  is  the  figure  generally  accepted  for  the 
present  time.  The  number  of  votes  cast  at  the  presidential 
election  in  1872,  was  3,509. 

§  45.  Oakland. — Oakland  is  the  prettiest  town  in  Califor- 
nia, and  (so  far  as  my  observation  goes)  in  the  United  States, 
and  owes  its  superiority  mainly  to  the  luxuriance,  variety, 
and  beauty  of  its  vegetation,  and  the  elegance  of  its 
dwellings.  It  is  a  suburb  of  San  Francisco,  and  the  residence 
of  many  wealthy  men  doing  business  in  the  city.  Having 
very  little  trade,  its  houses  are  nearly  all  dwellings,  and  land 
is  cheap  as  compared  with  the  metropolis.  Many  of  the 
homes  are  surrounded  by  fine  gardens ;  and  enough  of  the 
indigenous  evergreen  oaks  have  been  left  to  almost  hide  the 
houses  in  some  parts  of  the  town,  and  to  make  the  name 
strikingly  appropriate.  The  site  is  level ;  the  streets  are  well 
macadamized ;  and  three  horse,  and  two  steam  railroads  fur- 
nish convenient  and  cheap  means  of  access  to  the  neighboring 
country.  The  State  University,  and  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind 
Asylum,  are  beautifully  situated  at  the  base  of  the  mountains. 
The  population,  in  1870,  was  10,500,  and  in  1872,  the  number 
of  voters  was  1,877. 

At  Oakland,  the  track  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  ends; 
but  on  account  of  the  lack  of  harbor  facilities,  it  is  not  the 
terminus.  The  business  is  done  in  San  Francisco,  which  is 
reached  by  a  wharf  extending  a  mile  and  a  half  across  the 
mud  flat  out  to  deep  water,  and  a  ferry  boat  running  two 
miles  and  a  half.  This  wharf  was  built  at  an  expense  of  more 
than  a  million  dollars,  but  is  not  considered  a  permanent 
structure,  as  the  teredo,  or  shipworm,  has  commenced  to  eat 
the  piles.  A  plan  has  been  proposed  for  the  construction  of 
an  artificial  harbor  in  San  Antonio  Creek,  which  is  the  south- 


68  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ern  boundary  of  Oakland,  and,  for  a  length  of  a  mile  and  a 
half,  has  a  width  of  three  hundred  yards  or  more,  and  at  its 
head  has  two  lakes  or  tide  water  basins,  covering  an  area  of 
nine  hundred  acres.  The  creek,  through  much  of  its  length, 
has  a  depth  varying  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  at  low  tide,  but 
in  front  of  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  and  all  along  the  Oakland 
shore,  a  mud  flat,  covered  by  less  than  two  feet  of  water  at 
low  tide,  extends  out  into  the  bay,  and  the  ship  channel  is 
more  than  a  mile  distant  from  the  upland.  Having  no  natural 
harbor  accessible  for  large  vessels,  except  the  anchorage  along- 
side the  present  wharf,  which  is  a  temporary  structure,  Oak- 
land has  been  unable  to  derive  any  profit  from  her  extensive 
water  front,  but  a  plan  has  been  proposed  for  making  an  arti- 
ficial harbor. 

This  plan  is  practicable  and  important.  It  contemplates 
the  construction  of  walls  three  hundred  yards  apart,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  creek  to  deep  water,  thus  extending  the  creek 
out  to  ship  channel,  and  avoiding  the  mud  flat  which  now 
prevents  ships  from  reaching  Oakland.  The  basins  at  the 
head  of  the  creek  will  supply  a  large  area  of  tide  water, 
which  will  sweep  through  the  channel  four  times  a  day  and 
preserve  its  depth,  and  perhaps  even  clean  it  at  first  without 
dredging.  The  construction  of  the  walls  in  durable  style 
would  cost  several  million  dollars,  but  would  add  five  times 
as  much  as  its  cost  to  the  market  value  of  Oakland  property. 
Such  a  harbor  nearly  three  miles  long,  300  yards  wide,  and 
twenty  feet  deep,  with  five  miles  of  excellent  frontage,  would 
be  more  commodious,  secure,  and  convenient  of  access,  than 
some  harbors  of  considerable  seaports  in  Europe ;  and  by  its 
construction,  Oakland  would  be  fitted  to  become  the  main 
railroad  terminus  of  California.  The  influence  of  the  Rail- 
road Company  would  be  sufficient  to  transfer  thither  a  large 
part  of  the  business  now  done  at  San  Francisco. 

The  people  of  Oakland  have  contemplated  the  construction 
of  this  harbor  for  several  years,  and  several  efforts  have  been 


SOCIETY.  69 

made  to  organize  companies  to  undertake  the  work  ;  but  capi- 
talists would  not  take  hold  without  a  promise  from  the  Rail- 
road Company  that  it  would  make  Oakland  the  main  terminus 
of  all  its  roads.  At  present,  a  proposition  is  under  considera- 
tion to  get  a  Federal  appropriation  to  make  the  harbor ;  and 
as  Congress  has  been  accustomed  to  improve  harbors  not  so 
good  by  nature,  nor  so  favorably  situated  for  business  as  this, 
the  measure  might  pass,  especially  with  such  powerful  lobby 
influences  as  could  be  brought  to  bear  in  favor  of  the  project. 
Congress  has  ordered  a  survey  of  the  creek,  and  a  favorable 
report  has  been  made  on  the  practicability  of  the  project. 

>§  46.  San  Jose  and  Santa  Clara.^ — San  Jose,  fifty  miles 
southward  from  San  Francisco,  the  chief  town  of  the  rich 
Santa  Clara  Valley,  had  a  population  of  9,089  in  1870,  and 
cast  1,657  votes  in  1872.  The  town  was  laid  out  about  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  and  some  of  the  houses  are  of  adobe, 
and  were  built  before  the  American  conquest.  The  streets 
are  lined  with  shade-trees,  the  gardens  filled  with  beautiful 
ornamental  trees,  fruit-trees,  and  flowers,  and  the  dwellings 
are  elegant.  There  are  eleven  hundred  acres  of  orchard  in 
the  vicinity.  Artesian  wells  are  numerous,  and  are  of  great 
value.  One  of  the  boasts  of  San  Jose  is  the  "  Alam.".la," 
an  avenue  three  miles  long,  reaching  to  Santa  Clara,  lined 
with  willow  and  cottonwood  trees.  The  trees  stand  close 
together,  and  are  of  large  size,  so  that  they  form  a  dense 
shade,  and  between  runs  a  horse  railroad,  and  also  a  turn- 
pike. 

Santa  Clara,  three  miles  westward  of  San  Jose",  and  con- 
nected with  it  by  the  Alameda,  is  a  new  town,  and  nearly  all 
the  houses  are  of  wood.  The  principal  building  is  the  old 
mission  church,  erected  in  1822.  It  is  now  used  as  part  of  a 
Jesuit  College.  The  mission  of  Santa  Clara  was  founded  in 
1777,  and  a  church  was  built  on  the  bank  of  the  Guadalupe 
Creek,  at  a  place  called  "  Socoistika,"  the  Indian  name  of  the 
laurel-trees  which  grew  there.  Two  years  later  this  building 


70  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

was  swept  away  by  a  flood,  and  in  1781  a  new  church  was 
commenced,  half  a  league  distant  from  the  river,  in  a  grove 
of  oak-trees,  the  Indian  name  of  which,  "  Gerguensen,"  was 
given  to  the  vicinity.  This  church  was  destroyed  by  an 
earthquake  in  1818.  The  population  in  1870  was  3,469. 

§  47.  Stockton. — Stockton  had  a  population  of  10,066  in 
1870,  and  was  inferior  to  Oakland  in  that  respect,  and  in  1872 
cast  1397  votes  (less  than  the  number  cast  in  Vallejo,  Oak- 
land, or  San  Jose);  but  it  may  still  fairly  claim  to  be  the  third 
town  in  the  State  as  a  business  center,  and  it  may  continue  to 
improve  in  the  future,  being  the  main  river  port  of  the  great 
San  Joaquin  Valley.  The  town  is  situated  on  Stockton 
Slough,  ten  miles  from  the  San  Joaquin  River,  and  125 
miles  from  San  Francisco  by  the  steamboat  route.  Boats 
drawing  five  feet  can  reach  the  town  at  ordinary  stages  of  low 
water,  but  the  channels  are  narrow  and  crooked.  The  tide 
rises  about  a  foot.  The  town  has  a  pleasant  appearance. 
Many  of  the  dwellings  are  neatly  built,  and  are  surrounded 
by  elegant  gardens.  Shade-trees  are  abundant.  Fresh  water 
is  supplied  to  the  city,  for  domestic  purposes  and  for  irriga- 
ting the  gardens,  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  windmills,  which 
pump  it  up  through  lead  pipes,  thrust  down  twenty  feet  deep 
into  auger  holes  two  inches  wide.  So  abundant  is  the  water 
in  the  soil  at  that  depth,  that  there  is  no  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing it  in  this  manner.  Stockton  is  nick-named  "  The  City  of 
Windmills,"  and  indeed  the  name  appears  very  appropriate 
to  the  traveler  who  approaches  the  town  on  a  windy  day,  and 
at  a  distance  sees  little  save  a  multitude  of  great  arms  revolv- 
ing furiously  above  and  among  the  trees  and  house-tops. 

The  first  settlement  on  the  place  was  made  in  1844  by 
Charles  M.  Weber  and  Mr.  Gulnac,  the  latter  of  whom  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  land  from  the  Mexican  government  in  that 
year.  They  had  some  trouble  with  the  Indians,  and  Gulnac 
sold  out  to  his  partner,  who  would  not  give  the  rancho  up ; 
and  afterwards,  when  the  place  became  important  for  its  com- 


SOCIETY.  71 

mercial  advantages,  he  became  the  founder  and  father  of  the 
town,  where  he  still  resides.  The  name  was  selected  in  hon- 
or of  Commodore  Stockton,  who  commanded  the  American 
naval  forces  on  this  coast  during  the  war  with  Mexico,  and 
contributed  much  to  the  conquest  of  California.  The  town, 
like  Sacramento  and  Marysville,  was  overflowed  during  the 
great  flood  of  1862,  the  water  having  covered  all  the  streets 
on  the  llth  of  January,  and  stood  for  days  more  than  a  foot 
deep,  in  the  highest  of  them. 

The  Central  Pacific  Railroad  runs  through  Stockton,  and  a 
rail  road  twenty  miles  long,  from  Milton,  in  Calaveras  County, 
terminates  there. 

A  company  has  been  organized  to  cut  a  canal  thirteen  miles 
long,  from  Stockton  to  Venice,  on  the  San  Joaquin  River, 
below  which  point  the  channel  is  twenty  feet  deep,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  yards  wide.  Gen.  B.  S.  Alexander,  having 
examined  the  country,  has  made  a  written  report,  to  the  effect 
that  the  project  is  practicable,  and  that  a  canal  106  feet  wide 
at  the  water  line,  20  feet  deep  at  mean  tide,  and  12  miles  long, 
will  cost  $1,207,000  with  certain  basins  and  canals.  He  adds 
that  "  the  day  is  coming,  if  it  has  not  already  come,  when  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  will  demand  a  cheaper  outlet  for  its  pro- 
ductions than  it  is  possible  to  obtain  by  railroad  or  a  system 
of  railroads,  and  a  narrow,  crooked,  and  shallow  river."  The 
company  propose  to  reduce  the  expense  to  $843,000  by  reduc- 
ing the  width  three  feet,  the  depth  one  foot,  and  omitting  sev- 
eral of  the  basins  designed  for  turn-outs  and  other  purposes. 

The  San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad  forms  a  junction  with  the 
Central  Pacific  at  Lathrop,  eight  miles  south  of  Stockton. 

§  48.  Vallejo  and  Carquinez. — Vallejo,  situated  on  an  arm 
of  San  Pablo  Bay,  called  Napa  Bay,  Vallejo  Bay,  or  Mare 
Island  Strait,  is  twenty-three  miles  from  San  Francisco  in  a 
northeastward  direction  ;  the  harbor  is  five  miles  long,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  thirty  feet  deep,  with  excellent  protec- 
tion against  the  winds,  arid  good  holding  ground.  The  chan- 


72  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

nel  from  the  Golden  Gate  is  a  mile  wide,  twenty-five  feet  deep 
at  low  tide  at  the  shallowest  place,  and  distinctly  marked  by 
prominent  headlands.  The  winds  are  constant,  and  there  are 
no  rocks  to  endanger  navigation.  The  site  of  the  town  is  an 
extensive  plain,  which  comes  down  very  near  to  deep  water, 
presenting  the  best  natural  water  front  for  large  vessels  on  the 
waters  tributary  to  the  Golden  Gate,  the  shore  elsewhere  be- 
ing either  rocky,  bluff,  or  mud-flat.  The  town  has  now  more 
wharves  constructed  with  much  less  expense  than  those  acces- 
sible for  ships  elsewhere.  The  site  is  at  the  head  of  ocean 
navigation,  and  being  only  sixty  miles  from  Sacramento  in  a 
direct  line,  is  in  a  good  position  to  be  the  point  where  the  cars 
and  ships  should  meet  in  the  future,  as  they  must  meet.  The 
water  in  the  harbor  is  brackish,  and  the  teredo  cannot  live 
there.  The  supply  of  fresh  water  is  abundant  and  cheap. 

The  population  in  1870  was  7,391,  (less  than  that  of  Oakland, 
Stockton,  or  San  Jose)  but  in  1872  it  cast  2,147  votes,  surpass- 
ing all  those  places,  and  ranking  next  to  Sacramento  in  that 
respect. 

A  great  future  has  been  predicted  for  Yallejo,  but  the  pre- 
dictions have  remained  without  fulfillment  for  many  years. 
Forty-seven  ships  were  loaded  there  with  grain  for  Europe  in 
the  twelve  months  ending  June  30th,  1873.  Railroads  run 
from  the  town  to  Sacramento,  Knight's  Landing,  Woodland, 
Vacaville,  and  Calistoga.  The  town  was  laid  out  in  1850  by 
M.  G.  Yallejo,  for  the  capital  of  the  State.  He  owned  large 
tracts  of  land,  then  estimated  to  be  worth  several  millions  of 
dollars.  Among  his  possessions  was  the  Suscol  Rancho,  and 
he  was  induced  to  believe  that  if  he  would  lay  off  a  town  and 
make  a  liberal  offer  of  land  and  money  to  the  State,  the  capi- 
tal would  be  established  there,  and  increase  the  value  of  his 
land  so  much  that  he  would  profit  largely  by  the  affair.  The 
suggestion  appeared  reasonable,  and  he  adopted  it,  offering 
much  land  and  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  in 
cash  for  the  establishment  of  the  capital  at  Vallejo — the  three 


SOCIETY.  73 

hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  to  be  spent  in  erecting 
public  buildings.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  capital  was 
located  at  Vallejo,  but  the  Legislature  went  thither  at 
a  time  when  there  were  no  houses  there,  and  they  imme- 
diately went  away.  Senor  Vallejo  did  not  pay  the  money 
which  he  had  offered,  and  finally  the  capital  was  established 
at  Sacramento,  where  it  is  likely  to  remain.  The  business  of 
Vallejo  now  depends  chiefly  upon  the  United  States  Navy- 
yard  and  Dry-dock,  on  Mare  Island. 

Benicia,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Strait  of  Carquinez  or  the 
Silver  Gate,  may  be  regarded  as  a  suburb  of  Vallejo,  from 
which  it  is  six  miles  distant.  The  two  towns  are  really  twins 
in  interest,  and  each  has  decided  advantages  lacking  to  the 
other.  The  Strait  of  Carquinez  is  the  natural  center  for  the 
land  and  water  travel  of  the  State,  but  the  water  front  of 
Benicia  is  a  swamp,  and  it  has  obstructed  the  progress  of  the 
town.  It  was  laid  out  in  1847  ;  for  a  time  it  aspired  to  be  the 
great  commercial  city  of  the  Coast,  which  aspiration  it  did  not 
abandon  until  as  late  as  1853.  It  was  twice  made  the  State  capi- 
tal, and  twice  deserted  by  the  Legislature.  The  houses  are 
scattered  about  so  far  from  each  other  that  the  town  is  called, 
in  sport,  "  The  City  of  Magnificent  Distances."  A  ferry-boat 
crosses  the  strait  to  Carquinez  about  six  or  eight  times  every 
day.  The  population,  in  1870,  was  1,656. 

Martinez,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Strait  of  Carquinez, 
and  nearly  opposite  Benicia,  had  a  population  of  only  560  in 
1870,  but  may  become  an  important  town  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  which  will  pass  through 
the  town  on  its  way  from  Stockton  to  Oakland,  and  will  thus 
bring  much  of  the  travel  of  the  State  to  the  strait.  A  wide 
and  shallow  mud  flat  lies  in  front  of  Martinez,  but  west  of  the 
town  the  channel  is  deep  near  the  shore  ;  and  as  the  railroad  is 
to  follow  the  shore  line,  warehouses  will  be  built  between  the 
track  and  the  channel,  and  there  much  of  the  wheat  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  will  probably  be  loaded  for  Europe.  A  steam- 


74  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ferry  boat  connects  Martinez  with  Benicia.  The  town  is  shel- 
tered by  high  hills  from  the  west  and  south  ;  west,  whence  the 
prevalent  winds  come,  and  the  fog,  blown  upland  from  the 
Golden  Gate  passes  to  the  northward,  leaving  Martinez  and 
vicinity  in  the  sunshine  many  days,  while  Benicia  is  covered 
with  a  cloud. 

The  town  of  Pacheco  was  founded  in  1858.  It  is  bmlt  at 
the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Pacheco  Slough,  and  is  the  ship- 
ping port  of  Pacheco,  San  Ramon,  Diablo,  and  Nassau  valleys. 
The  distance  to  Martinez  is  four  miles,  further  than  farmers 
like  to  haul  their  grain,  when  they  can  avoid  it.  The  slough 
is  bare  at  low  water  ;  at  high  water  it  is  navigable  for  sloops 
and  schooners  drawing  six  feet.  The  population  is  about 
1,000.  The  town  will  probably  lose  much  of  its  importance 
after  the  completion  of  the  Bantas,  Martinez,  and  Oakland 
Railroad. 

§  49.  Los  Angeles. — The  town  of  Los  Angeles,  formerly 
called  Pueblo  de  los  Angeles,  or  the  Pueblo  de  la  Reina  de  los 
Angeles — the  town  of  the  Queen  of  the  Angels — the  largest 
town  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  had  a  population  of 
5,728  in  1870.  It  was  founded  about  1780,  and  was  a  consid- 
erable town  previous  to  the  American  conquest,  but  the  finest 
buildings  in  the  place  have  been  erected  within  the  last  twelve 
years.  The  town  is  situated  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Los 
Angeles  River,  where  that  stream  breaks  through  the  range  of 
low  hills,  twenty  miles  north  of  the  bay  of  San  Pedro.  The 
streets  are  mostly  of  good  width,  but  are  not  straight ;  do  not 
cross  each  other  at  right  angles,  are  not  graded,  nor  are  they 
paved.  All  the  old  houses  are  built  of  adobes,  and  most  of 
them  are  of  one  story,  with  flat  roofs  of  asphaltum.  The  new 
houses  are  of  wood  and  brick.  On  the  northwestern  side  of 
the  town,  and  very  near  to  the  most  busy  part  of  it,  is  a  hill 
about  sixty  feet  high,  whence  an  excellent  view  of  the  whole 
place  may  be  obtained.  The  vineyards  and  gardens  are 
beautiful.  There  are  2,500  or  3,000  acres  of  brilliant  green— 


SOCIETY 


the  largest  body  of  land  in  vineyard,  garden,  and  orchard 
within  so  small  a  space  in  the  State.  The  fences  fix  the  atten- 
tion of  the  stranger.  They  are  made  of  willow  trees,  planted 
from  nine  inches  to  two  feet  apart,  the  spaces  between  the 
trunks  being  filled  with  poles  and  brush.  After  the  fences, 
the  stranger's  notice  is  attracted  by  the  zanjas,  or  irrigating 
ditches,  which  run  through  the  town  in  every  direction.  These 
zcinj>:i$  vary  in  size,  but  most  of  them  have  a  body  of  water 
three  feet  wide  and  a  foot  deep,  running  at  a  speed  of  five 
miles  an  hour.  They  carry  the  water  from  the  river  to  the 
gardens,  and  are  absolutely  necessary  to  secure  the  growth  of 
the  fences,  vines,  and  many  of  the  fruit-trees,  at  least  when 
young.  One  of  the  officers  of  the  town  is  the  zanjero,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  take  charge  of  the  zanjas,  see  that  they  are  kept 
in  order,  and  that  the  water  is  equally  distributed  among  those 
entitled  to  it.  Entering  the  enclosures,  we  are  among  the 
vines,  orange,  lemon,  lime,  citron,  pear,  apple,  peach,  olive, 
fig,  and  walnut  trees.  Many  of  the  vines  are  from  ten  to 
thirty  years  of  age.  The  population  of  the  place  may  be  de- 
scribed as  of  three  nearly  equal  classes,  Americans,  Europeans, 
and  Spanish  Californians.  The  Americans  own  most  of  the 
houses  and  land  in  the  town,  the  Europeans  probably  do  most 
of  its  trade.  The  town  is  the  seat  of  the  county  government, 
and  the  chief  business  place  in  this  part  of  the  State.  The 
general  impression  upon  my  mind,  after  spending  the  last 
week  in  September  in  the  place,  is  that  it  is  one  of  the  most 
pleasant  places,  known  to  me,  to  visit.  The  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion, with  its  sub-tropical  character,  is  peculiarly  agreeable 
to  the  sons  of  the  North.  The  "  clime  of  the  sun,"  "  the  land 
of  the  cypress  and  myrtle,"  where  the  citron  blooms  and  the 
golden  oranges  glow  amidst  the  dark-green  leaves,  have  ever 
been  with  the  poets  of  the  colder  lands  the  symbols  of  a  ter- 
restrial paradise,  and  some  of  the  most  brilliant  verses  of 
Goethe  and  Byron  have  been  inspired  by  admiration  of  them. 


76  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  song  of  Mignon  came  vividly  before  me  as  I  walked 
through  the  gardens  of  the  City  of  the  Angels. 

"  Know'st  thou  the  land  where  the  lemon  trees  bloom, 
Where  the  gold  orange  glows  in  the  green  thicket's  gloom, 
Where  the  wind  ever  soft  from  the  blue  heaven  blows, 
And  groves  are  of  myrtle  and  olive  and  rose  ?" 

Luscious  fruits,  of  many  species  and  unnumbered  varieties, 
loaded  the  trees.  Gentle  breezes  came  through  the  bowers. 
The  water  rippled  musically  through  the  zanjas.  Delicious 
odors  came  from  all  the  most  fragrant  flowers  of  the  temper- 
ate zone.  Julius  Froebel  speaks  thus  of  Los  Angeles  in  his 
book,  Am  AmeriJca :  "  I  could  wish  no  better  home  for  my- 
self and  my  friends  than  such  a  one  as  noble,  sensible  men 
could  here  make  for  themselves.  Nature  has  preserved  here, 
in  its  workings  and  phenomena,  that  medium  between  too 
much  and  too  little,  which  was  one  of  the  great  conditions  of 
high  civilization  in  the  classic  regions  of  ancient  times.  In- 
deed, when  we  seek  in  other  lands  for  places  like  Los  Angeles 
and  Southern  California  generally,  we  must  turn  our  eyes  to 
the  Levant.  In  the  United  States  there  are  [in  1858]  no 
kindred  spots."  The  town  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  the 
Los  Angeles  River,  twenty-five  miles  from  the  ocean. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Hough  writes  thus  :  "  The  general  view  of  Los 
Angeles,  from  the  old  Fort,  more  nearly  resembles  that  of 
Damascus,  '  the  pearl  of  the  Orient,'  than  any  city  I  have 
elsewhere  seen.  The  hills  skirt  it  on  the  north  and  west,  as 
the  range  of  Anti-Lebanon  does  the  eastern  city ;  while  from 
them  your  eye  sweeps  over  the  same  broad,  brown  plain,  in 
the  midst  of  which  lies  an  island  of  verdure,  (El  Merj,  or  the 
meadows,  the  Arabs  call  it)  with  the  city  embowered  in  its 
midst.  True,  there  are  no  minarets  rising  from  the  modern 
town,  and  the  Los  Angeles  River  is  a  poor  substitute  for  the 
ancient  Abana ;  nor  are  the  desert  schooners,  which  take  their 
departure  for  the  Colorado  River,  much  like  the  caravans 
which  leave  for  the  Euphrates.  But  the  vineyards  have  the 
same  luxuriance,  the  pomegranates  the  same  real  blossom,  and 


SOCIETY.  77 

the  orange-groves  the  same  ravishing  beauty,  while  an  occa- 
sional palm,  stateliest  of  trees,  gives  an  oriental  air  to  the 
scene.  One  misses  the  ocean  view,  and  the  mountains  lie 
away  upon  the  horizon ;  the  city  itself  is  rather  irregular  and 
has  but  few  fine  buildings.  The  beauty  is  in  the  environs, 
where  lovely  cottages  and  lofty  mansions  peep  out  from  amid 
bowers  in  which  lemons  and  limes  and  apricots  are  mingled 
with  oranges  and  walnuts  and  grapes. 

"  Los  Angeles  owes  its  future  promise,  as  Damascus  does  its 
past  greatness,  to  the  water  which  flows  so  freely  in  its  zanjas, 
and  to  its  situation  with  reference  to  the  interior  country.  It 
lies  on  the  lap  of  a  wide  farming  country,  and  in  the  midst  of 
thrifty  settlements,  such  as  El  Monte,  Los  Nietos,  Anaheim, 
and  Compton,  while  one  who  stands  at  the  depot,  and  sees 
now  and  then  a  car  load  of  bullion  passing  down  to  the  sea, 
or  a  great  wagon  loading  for  Arizona,  discerns  therein  the 
promise  of  a  mighty  inland  traffic,  which,  unless  diverted  when 
the  railroad  system  of  the  region  shall  be  determined,  must 
make  Los  Angeles  an  important  center." 

The  embarcadero,  or  shipping  point  of  Los  Angeles,  was  San 
Pedro,  twenty-five  miles  distant  to  the  southward,  where  a 
couple  of  houses  sheltered  the  few  people  who  found  occupa- 
tion in  the  scanty  trade,  until  1858,  when  a  small  steamer  was 
obtained,  and  used  to  transport  freight  from  the  anchorage  of 
the  ocean  steamers  at  the  San  Pedro  roadstead,  four  miles  up 
an  estuary  to  Wilmington,  which  soon  grew  into  a  little  town, 
and  now  has  a  population  of  1,000.  In  1871,  Congress  appro- 
priated $200,000  to  build  a  breakwater,  to  make  an  artificial 
harbor,  and  afterwards  $225,000  more  ;  and  the  work  is  now 
rapidly  approaching  completion.  Some  able  engineers  and 
navigators  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  breakwater 
would  be  worthless,  and  that  the  harbor  would  have  to  be 
built  further  out ;  but  the  Los  Angeles  papers  say  there  is  no 
longer  room  to  doubt  the  success  of  the  present  structure.  If 
this  statement  be  true,  the  harbor  will  be  at  New  San  Pedro, 


78  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

about  half-way  between  Wilmington  and  old  San  Pedro,  and 
twenty-three  miles  from  Los  Angeles.  Whether  the  break- 
water be  a  success  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  an  artificial  harbor 
must  be  made  to  accommodate  the  rich  and  extensive  country 
north  and  east  of  San  Pedro.  The  Los  Angeles  people  claim 
that,  as  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad  will  cross  the  Coast 
mountains  at  San  Gorgonio  Pass,  eighty  miles  east  of  their 
town,  and  the  same  distance  north  of  San  Diego,  its  main  ter- 
minus must  be  at  New  San  Pedro. 

§  50.  San  Diego. — San  Diego,  which  had  a  population  of 
2,300  in  1870,  and  has  gained  several  hundred  in  the  last  three 
3'ears,  has  been  made  by  Congress  the  western  terminus  of  the 
Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad,  now  in  progress  of  construction. 
The  distance  by  this  road  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  at  Galveston,  is  only  1,500  miles,  whereas  from  San 
Francisco  to  New  York  the  distance  is  3,300  miles.  The  San 
Diego  people  predict  that  when  their  road  shall  be  completed, 
it  will  be  preferred  to  the  middle  Pacific  for  the  transportation 
of  freight  between  Asia  and  the  Atlantic  cities,  and  they  argue 
that  their  town  will  be  the  rival  or  equal  of  San  Francisco. 
The  harbor  of  San  Diego  is  excellent,  and  in  many  respects  un- 
surpassed ;  but  the  entrance  is  only  twenty-five  feet  deep  at  high 
water,  and  calms  off  the  coast  frequently  render  it  difficult  for 
sailing  vessels  to  enter  or  leave  the  harbor  for  days  at  a  time, 
whereas,  two  hundred  miles  farther  north,  the  trade  winds  are 
almost  constant. 

The  vicinity  of  San  Diego  is  poor  in  agricultural  resources. 
The  town  is  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  a  county  which  is 
sixty  miles  from  north  to  south,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  from  the  ocean  to  the  Colorado,  and  that  vast  area  has 
only  5,000  inhabitants,  and  only  15,000  acres  under  cultiva- 
tion, or  three  acres  to  the  person.  The  population  of  the  city 
is  2,300,  and  7,000  square  miles  in  the  county  have  only 
2,700  inhabitants,  or  less  than  one  person  to  two  square  miles. 
The  western  third  of  the  county  is  nearly  all  rugged  moun- 


SOCIETY.  79 

tains,  unfit  for  tillage,  and  the  eastern  two-thirds  is  desert, 
though  much  of  it  may  be  reclaimed.  The  rivers  are  small 
and  short,  and  their  valleys  narrow.  Not  one  irrigating  ditch 
is  reported  for  San  Diego  County,  though  the  average  annual 
rainfall  is  only  four  inches.  The  soil  is  rich  in  the  valleys, 
and,  where  moist,  is  very  productive. 

The  town  must  rely  mainly  on  the  railroad  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  its  hopes  of  active  business,  though,  as  a  health  resort, 
it  will  always  remain  in  favor.  It  has  excellent  accommoda- 
tions for  travelers,  and  is  a  touching  point  for  the  mail  steam- 
ers between  San  Francisco  and  Panama. 

§  51.     Anaheim. — Anaheim  is  the  only  German  town   in 
the  State.     It  was  laid  out  by  Germans,  built  up  by  Germans, 
and  is  in  the  main  populated  and  owned  by  Germans.     But  it 
will  never  have  the  foreign  character  which  marks  many  Ger- 
man villages  in  the  valley  States  of  the  Mississippi,  where  the 
English  language  is  not  known  to  any  of  the  people.     None  of 
the  Anaheimers  have  come  direct  from  Germany :  all  of  them 
have  lived  for  some  time  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  and 
most  of  them  speak  English  iiuently.     The  English  language 
will  be  the  predominant  tongue,  although  German  will  long 
be  cherished.     Anaheim  is  a  tract  of  land  a  mile  wide  by  a 
mile  and  a  half  long,  in  the  valley  of  the  Santa  Ana  River, 
Los  Angeles  County.     It  was  unoccupied,  and  supposed  to  be 
of  little  value  in  1857,  when  it  was  bought  for  two  dollars  an 
acre  by  a  German  company  of  fifty  members,  mostly  residing 
in  San  Francisco.     They  were  incorporated  as  a  joint-stock 
association.     The  land,  containing  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  sixty- eight  acres,  was  divided  into  fifty  lots  of  twenty 
acres  each,  with  a  little  town  plat  in  the  middle,  and  conven- 
ient streets.     The  place  was  given  in  charge  of  a  superintend- 
ent,  wrho  held    his  position  two  years,  in   which   time  he 
planted  and  cultivated  eight  acres  of  every  lot  with  vines,  and 
put  willow  hedges   (nearly  all  the   fences  in  Los  Angeles 
County  are  of  willow)  around  the  outer  boundary  of  the  tract, 


80  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

and  along  the  principal  streets  inside.  During  a  large  part  of 
the  time  he  hired  fifty  laborers.  The  total  expense  for  the 
two  years  was  seventy  thousand  dollars,  or  one  thousand  four 
hundred  dollars  per  lot  of  twenty  acres,  including  eight  acres 
of  vine.  The  owner  of  a  vineyard  lot  had  a  little  town  lot  of 
half  an  acre  besides.  In  December,  1859,  the  property  was 
divided  by  lot  among  the  members,  many  of  whom  afterwards 
moved  to  the  place  and  made  their  homes  there.  Anaheim 
has  some  advantages  over  Los  Angeles  in  the  regularity  of  its 
plan,  and  perhaps,  also,  in  location,  (for  it  is  nearer  the  ocean, 
and  farther  from  the  snowy  mountains)  and  in  the  extent  of 
rich  land  in  its  neighborhood,  and  in  its  location  near  the 
direct  line  of  travel  between  Wilmington  and  San  Bernardino. 
It  is  almost  as  beautiful  as  Los  Angeles,  and  in  "many  respects 
bears  a  great  resemblance  to  that  town.  The  population  was 
881  in  1870. 

§  52.  Santa  Barbara.— Santa  Barbara,  in  latitude  34°  24', 
on  a  shore  that  runs  east  and  west,  50  miles  eastward  from 
Point  Argiiello  at  the  southern  base  of  the  Santa  Inez  moun- 
tain range,  which  shelters  it  from  the  north  winds,  is  now  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  towns  in  the  State,  having  more  than 
doubled  its  population  in  the  last  five  years.  The  number  of 
inhabitants  in  1870  was  4,000.  Its  chief  attraction  is  the 
climate,  and  many  of  the  new  settlers  are  invalids  from  the 
Atlantic  States.  Congress  has  ordered  an  examination  of  the 
estuary  of  the  town,  to  determine  whether  an  artificial  harbor 
can  be  made  there.  The  town  has  excellent  hotels,  and  nice 
gardens. 

§  53.  Petaluma. —  Petaluma,  forty  miles  north  of  San 
Francisco,  and  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  Petaluma  Creek, 
is  the  main  town  of  a  rich  valley,  and  in  1860  was  the  eighth 
town  of  the  State,  and  was  growing  with  great  rapidity,  being 
then  the  only  outlet  of  Santa  Rosa  and  Russian  Valleys.  But 
it  was  a  slough  port,  and  when  a  railroad  was  built  through 
the  valley  with  a  terminus  four  miles  below  the  town,  it  began 


SOCIETY.  81 

to  decline,  and  it  lias  lost  some  of  its  voters,  and  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  its  trade.     The  population  in  1870  was  4,588. 

§  54.  Grass  Valley. — Grass  Valley,  the  chief  quartz  min- 
ing town  of  the  State,  is  2,500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  thirteen  miles  north  of  Cplfax,  on  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad.  The  site  is  in  the  midst  of  an  amphitheater  of 
gently  rolling  hills,  which  have  a  fertile  red  soil,  and  are  cov- 
ered either  by  nice  little  homesteads  and  gardens,  or  by  a 
multitude  of  young  pine  trees,  which  have  arisen  to  take  the 
place  of  the  older  trees,  cut  down  to  supply  firewood  or  shaft- 
ing timber.  A  large  area  is  occupied  by  residences.  Several 
square  miles  must  be  included  within  the  town  plat.  There  is 
abundant  room  for  the  orchards  and  gardens  which  surround 
many  of  the  dwellings.  The  ugly  piles  of  boulders,  the  bare 
rock,  and  the  deep  excavations  on  the  hill-sides,  which  show 
the  ravages  of  the  placer  miner,  are  not  seen  here.  This  is  the 
home  of  the  quartz  miner,  who  has  built  a  comfortable  house, 
surrounded  it  with  flowers,  and  fixed  himself  to  enjoy  life 
with  his  family.  Unlike  most  of  the  placer  mining  camps, 
this  is  a  beautiful  town,  and  it  has  an  appearance  of  comfort 
and  permanence  and  steady  prosperity  that  would  do  no  dis- 
credit to  a  thrifty  New  England  village.  There  is  now  in  the 
township  a  population  of  7,000,  most  of  whom  are  collected  in 
the  town.  The  business  is  sufficient  to  pay  a  fair  profit,  if  it 
were  evenly  divided,  to  many  more.  The  township  is  the 
greatest  center  for  gold-quartz  mining  in  the  world,  and  the 
annual  gold  yield  is  estimated  at  $4,000,000.  There  are 
here,  within  a  small  area,  a  number  of  the  richest  mines  in 
the  State.  The  miners  of  Grass  Valley  have  two  serious  dis- 
advantages :  the  lodes  are  very  narrow,  and  water  is  found 
abundantly  at  a  depth  of  50  or  75  feet.  But  the  richness  of 
the  rock,  and  the  proximity  to  the  centers  of  the  population, 
have  more  than  counterbalanced  the  drawbacks. 

§  55.     Marysville. — From  1855  to  1860,  Marysvilte  was  the 
first  in  beauty,  and  the  third  in  population  and  trade,  among 
6 


82  KESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  towns  of  the  State,  but  it  was  a  river  port,  and  lost  much 
of  its  trade  when  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  gave  access  by 
rail  to  the  mines  of  Nevada  and  Butte ;  and  moreover,  the 
production  and  trade  of  the  mining  counties,  which  formerly 
got  their  supplies  through  Marysville,  began  to  decline  rapidly 
about  the  time  when  the  roads  were  built.  Thus  it  is  that  in 
1872  Marysville  cast  only  833  votes,  whereas,  in  1860,  it  had 
cast  1,871.  The  population,  in  1870,  was  4,738.  It  lies  be- 
tween  the  Feather  and  Yuba  Rivers,  at  their  junction.  The 
site,  like  that  of  Sacramento,  is  flat,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
large  valley,  and  has  been  raised  artificially  above  its  natural 
level  to  protect  the  houses  against  floods.  Marysville  resem- 
bles Sacramento,  though  smaller.  The  first  settlement  was 
made  in  1841  by  Theodore  Cordua,  a  German,  who  built  a 
couple  of  adobe  houses,  and  called  the  place  New  Mecklen- 
burg. In  1849  several  persons  built  shanties,  and  the  place 
was  called  Yubaville.  In  January,  1850,  the  town  was  laid 
off,  and  named  after  Mrs.  Mary  Covillaud,  the  wife  of  the 
chief  proprietor.  On  the  31st  of  August  and  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1851,  two  large  fires  occurred,  destroying  almost  the 
whole  town.  In  the  spring  of  1852  the  business  part  of  the 
town  was  covered  with  water,  and  the  next  year  it  was  raised 
twelve  feet.  The  town  was  again  flooded  in  December,  1861, 
and  January,  1862.  Marysville  is  at  the  head  of  navigation 
on  the  Feather  River.  The  distance  by  water  is  about  seventy 
miles  from  Sacramento  ;  by  the  railroad  it  is  forty-five  miles. 
§  56.  Visalia. — Visalia  is  situated  in  the  "  Four  Creek 
country,"  about  fifteen  miles  northeastward  from  Tulare  Lake. 
The  "Four  Creek  country"  is  formed  by  Cahuilla  Creek, 
which,  after  leaving  the  Sierra  Nevada,  spreads  out  into  a 
number  of  channels,  and  these  again  subdivide,  and  moisten- 
ing a  considerable  district  of  rich  soil,  render  it  very  product- 
ive. Yisalia  has  a  population  of  1,626.  It  promised  to  be- 
come one  of  the  leading  towns  of  the  State,  until  1872,  when 
-the  railroad  was  built  through  the  valley,  passing  seven  miles 


SOCIETY.  83 

to  the  westward,  thus  cutting  off  the  main  trade,  and  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  rival  town  at  Goshen.  The  town  was 
overflowed  in  the  flood  of  1862,  and  the  water  was  two  feet 
deep  in  the  main  street. 

§  57.  Suisun. — Suisun,  a  village  of  about  sixty  houses,  is  on 
the  western  bank  of  Suisun  Slough,  in  Solano  County,  about 
ten  miles,  in  a  direct  line,  from  Suisun  Bay,  and  sixteen  miles 
by  the  slough.  The  place  was  commenced  on  a  little  island,  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards  in  diameter,  and  no  part  of  it  more 
than  a  foot  above  the  highest  tide.  It  is  surrounded  by  tules, 
or  salt-water  rushes,  growing  on  land  overflowed  at  every  high 
tide,  and  bare  at  low  tide.  Two  roads  lead  from  the  dry  land 
of  the  valley  to  the  city — one  of  them  a  plank-road,  and  now 
in  a  very  dilapidated  condition.  Most  of  the  streets  are  subject 
to  overflow  by  spring  tides,  and  the  marks  of  the  water  can  be 
seen  upon  them,  even  when  dry.  A  few  lots  have  been  raised 
above  high  tide,  by  bringing  earth  from  other  places ;  and  en- 
closures are  made  by  digging  ditches,  in  which  the  water  is 
never  more  than  two  feet  below  the  surface.  The  island,  being 
in  the  tule,  was  not  included  in  the  Suisun  grant,  and  it  was 
claimed,  in  1853,  by  two  men  who  laid  off  the  town.  The 
place  owed  its  importance  to  its  advantages  as  the  shipping 
point  of  the  valley ;  but  the  construction  of  the  California 
Pacific  Pailroaa  has  cut  off  much  of  its  trade,  and  its  pros- 
perity has  been  declining  for  several  years.  The  population, 
in  1870,  was  462.  The  town  is  one  mile  from  dry  land,  on  the 
edge  whereof,  immediately  north  of  Suisun,  lies  Fairfield, 
which  is  the  county  seat,  and  has  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  inhabitants. 

§  58.  Yreka. — Treka  is  situated  at  an  elevation  of  fifteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  in  the  valley  of  Shasta  River, 
about  twenty  miles  northwest  from  Mount  Shasta.  It  is  a 
mining  town,  being  situated  in  a  rich  district,  and  founded 
on  pay-dirt.  The  place  is  surrounded  by  high  mountains, 
the  Siskiyou  ridge  on  the  north,  the  Sierra  Nevada  on  the 


84  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

east,  the  Scott  and  Trinity  ridges  on  the  south,  and  the 
Coast  Range  on  the  west,  and  is  shut  in  by  snows  during  part 
of  every  winter.  Much  of  the  merchandise  sent  out  from  this 
point  to  mining  camps  in  the  vicinity,  goes  on  pack-mules. 
The  goods  imported  by  Yreka  are  hauled  eighty  miles,  by 
horses,  from  Redding,  the  end  of  the  railroad.  The  town  is 
on  the  main  road  between  the  Sacramento  and  Willamette 
Vallevs,  and  occupies  a  central  position  in  the  basin  of  the 
Klamath  River,  and  will  probably  maintain  its  importance,  if 
the  railroad  be  built  to  run  through  it.  The  population,  in 
1870,  was  1,063. 

§  59.  Napa. — Napa  was  laid  off  in  1848,  by  Nathan 
Coombs,  at  the  ford  of  Napa  River,  on  the  road  from  Benicia 
to  Sonoma.  In  those  days  there  were  no  bridges  or  ferries, 
and  the  ford  and  the  head  of  navigation  for  sloops  determined 
the  location  of  the  town.  Now  the  ford  is  never  used,  but 
the  investment  of  capital  has  made  the  town  permanent.  The 
railroad  runs  through  the  town,  and  has  been  of  great  benefit, 
It  is  now  a  beautiful  and  growing  place.  A  Branch  Insane 
Asylum  is  being  built  near  Napa.  The  population  in  1870  was 
1,879. 

§  60.  Crescent  City. — Crescent  City  is  a  seaport,  fifteen 
miles  south  of  the  Oregon  line,  and  in  1870  had  458  inhabit- 
ants. The  place  was  founded  in  1853,  with  t£e  expectation 
that,  because  of  its  proximity  to  the  mines  of  the  Klamath  and 
Rogue  River  basins,  it  would  become  an  important  commercial 
point  for  the  imports  of  Southern  Oregon  and  Northern  Cali- 
fornia. Its  founders,  however,  were  disappointed  in  this  ex- 
pectation. The  people  at  the  head  of  the  Sacramento  Valley, 
knowing  that  an  attempt  was  making  to  cut  off  a  large  part 
of  their  trade,  went  to  work  industriously  and  made  a  good 
wagon  road  to  Yreka,  and  thus  reduced  the  freights  to  that 
place  very  much.  The  country  westward  of  Yreka  is  rug- 
ged, and  as  the  people  of  Crescent  City  had  not  the  capi- 
tal to  make  a  wagon  road,  their  goods  had  to  be  transported 


SOCIETY.  85 

at  much  expense  on  mules ;  and  Yreka  and  vicinity  con- 
tinue to  make  their  imports  and  exports  by  way  of  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley.  Crescent  City,  therefore,  remains  a  small 
place,  but  it  supplies  a  district  within  a  range  of  forty  or  fifty 
miles  to  the  east  and  northeast.  Trinidad,  a  small  seaport, 
is  the  chief  trading  point  of  the  miners  in  Klamath  County. 

§  61.  Ilumboldt  Bay  Toicns. — The  principal  town  on  Hum- 
boldt  Bay  is  Eureka,  which  had  2,049  inhabitants  in  1870. 
Arcata  had  924,  and  Bucksport,  388.  Eureka  has  the  main 
shipping  business,  Arcata  being  situated  behind  a  wide  mud 
flat.  The  latter  town  was  long  the  more  important,  and  in 
1862,  1,500  pack-mules  were  employed  in  conveying  goods  to 
the  mines  in  Trinity  and  Klamath  Counties.  Eureka  is  the 
only  town  of  over  two  thousand' inhabitants  in  the  State  with- 
out  a  telegraphic  line. 


86  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER   HE. 

CLIMATE. 

§  62.  Main  Features. — One  of  the  chief  advantages  of 
California  is  its  admirable  climate.  After  a  careful  study  of 
all  the  accessible  books  relating  to  the  subject — and  their  num- 
ber is  large — I  claim  and  believe  it  to  be  more  conducive  to 
health  and  comfort,  and  intellectual  and  physical  activity,  than 
that  of  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Other  climates  may 
be  better,  but  if  so  their  meterological  statistics  are  not  within 
my  reach,  and  they  may  belong  to  countries  objectionable  on 
account  of  their  isolated  situation  or  the  semi-civilized  condi- 
tion of  their  inhabitants.  .  Among  these  may  be  Tasmania,  and 
certain  districts  in  the  mountains  of  Mexico  and  South  Amer- 
ica. 

The  climate  of  the  valleys  in  California  is  unlike  that  of 
every  other  country,  and  particularly  dissimilar  to  that  of 
the  American  States  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  resembling 
in  general  character  that  of  Spain.  Its  chief  peculiarities, 
as  distinguished  from  the  Eastern  States,  are,  that  the  winters 
are  warmer ;  the  summers — especially  at  night — cooler ;  the 
changes  from  heat  to  cold  not  so  great  nor  so  frequent ;  the 
quantity  of  rain  less,  and  confined  principally  to  the  winter 
and  spring  months ;  the  atmosphere  drier ;  the  cloudy  days 
fewer ;  violent  wind  storms,  thunder,  lightning,  hail,  snow,  ice, 
and  the  aurora  borealis,  rarer ;  and  the  winds  more  regular — 
blowing  from  the  north  for  fair  weather,  and  from  the  south 
for  rain. 


CLIMATE.  87 

§  63.  Many  Climates. — The  State  reaches  through  nearly 
nine  and  a  half  degrees  of  latitude.  San  Diego  is  as  far  south 
as  Charleston,  three  and  a  half  degrees  south  of  Gibraltar, 
and  near  the  parallel  of  Jerusalem  and  Shanghae ;  and  Cres- 
cent City  is  as  far  north  as  Chicago,  Providence,  Rome,  and 
Constantinople.  Italy  has  the  same  general  shape,  direction, 
and  length  as  California,  but  is  five  degrees  further  north. 
Much  of  the  Golden  State  has  the  winter  of  South  Carolina, 
and  the  summer  of  Rhode  Island.  The  orange,  the  lemon, 
the  olive,  the  fig,  the  pomegranate,  the  vine,  the  peach,  the 
apple,  wheat,  and  barley,  all  find  most  congenial  climes  in  Cal- 
ifornia. 

The  State,  indeed,  has  many  climates ;  one  for  the  western 
slope  of  the  Coast  Range,  between  Point  Argiiello  and  Cape 
Mendocino  ;  another  for  the  low  land  of  the  Sacramento  Ba- 
sin ;  another  for  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Klamath  Basin ;  another 
for  the  Great  Basin  of  Utah  ;  another  for  the  coast  south  of 
Point  Conception  ;  and  still  another  for  the  Colorado  Desert. 

The  causes  of  these  peculiarities  of  climate  are  chiefly  to  be 
found  in  the  position  of  the  country — a  narrow  strip  on  the 
western  side  of  the  continent,  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  high 
range  of  mountains  that  shuts  the  coast  oiF  from  all  the  influ- 
ences of  the  interior ;  bordering  on  the  wide  Pacific  Ocean, 
washed  by  a  warm  current  flowing  across  from  the  China  Sea  ; 
with  a  shore  line  that  runs  nearly  north  and  south,  and  is  ex- 
posed in  all  its  length  to  the  strong  winds  constantly  blowing 
southeastward  over  the  ocean  ;  and  with  a  large,  dry  plain  in 
the  middle  of  the  State  ;  and  a  hot,  arid  desert  in  the  south- 
eastern corner. 

§  64.  Sea  Breeze. — The  sea  breeze  is  a  prominent  feature  in 
the  climate  of  California.  Nearly  every  day  the  wind  blows 
from  the  ocean  to  the  land.  In  the  summer  its  force  is  stronger 
than  in  the  winter,  on  account  of  the  great  heat  of  the  earth 
in  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin,  Mojave,  and  Colorado  Basins. 
The  air  there  rises  after  becoming  warm,  and  its  place  must 


88  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

be  supplied  by  the  breezes  from  the  ocean.  These  leave  the 
surface  of  the  Pacific  ordinarily  with  a  temperature  of  50a, 
and  as  they  advance  inland,  it  rises.  Thus,  the  mean  temper- 
ature of  July  in  San  Francisco  is  57°,  in  Yallejo  63°,  Sacra- 
mento 73°,  and  St.  Helena  77°,  the  difference  being  due  to  the 
greater  or  less  exposure  of  these  several  places  to  the  winds 
from  the  ocean.  Two  valleys,  on  the  same  level,  only  five 
miles  apart,  but  separated  by  a  high  mountain  ridge  which 
protects  the  more  eastern  of  the  two  from  the  sea  breeze, 
may  have  a  difference  of  10°  in  their  summer  weather. 

Strong  winds  blow  almost  constantly  through  the  gaps  in 
the  Coast  ridge. 

As  the  sea  breeze  prevails  in  the  day-time,  so  the  land  breeze 
comes  in  the  summer  nights,  and  although  not  strong  enough 
to  be  noticed  in  many  parts  of  the  State,  it  is  regularly  felt  in 
certain  gaps  on  the  southern  coast,  and  in  canons  of  the  Sierra 
Xevada.  The  air  pouring  down  from  the  snow  of  the  summit 
of  the  Sierra,  helps  to  cool  the  nights  in  the  valleys. 

§  65.  Middle  Coast.— On  the  coast,  between  latitudes  35° 
and  40°,  there  is  little  difference  in  the  temperatures  of  winter 
and  summer.  San  Francisco  is  in  the  same  latitude  with 
Seville,  Palermo,  Smyrna,  Washington,  and  St.  Louis,  but 
knows  neither  the  cold  winters  nor  the  hot  summers  which 
afflict  American  cities  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the 
same  latitude.  Ice  is  rarely  formed  in  the  California!!  metrop- 
olis, and  never  more  than  an  inch  in  thickness ;  and  the  ther- 
mometer never  stays  at  the  freezing  point  twenty-four  consec- 
utive hours.  The  lowest  point  which  the  thermometer  has 
ever  reached  in  San  Francisco,  since  observations  have  been 
taken,  was  22°  Fahrenheit  in  January,  18G2  ;  and  previous  to 
that  time  it  had  never  fallen  below  25°  ;  while  in  St.  Louis  it 
goes  down  to  12°  every  winter,  and  remains  near  that  figure 
for  many  consecutive  days.  The  mean  temperature  of  January 
at  sunrise  is  44°,  and  the  coldest  noon,  according  to  Dr.  H. 
Gibbons,  between  1850  and  1868,  was  37°.  In  three  years 


CLIMATE.  89 

out  of  five  the  thermometer  does  not  fall  to  32°  in  the  day- 
time, though  a  year  rarely  passes  without  frost  formed  at  night. 
Rome  has  a  day  and  a  half  of  snow  in  average  winters  ;  and 
in  San  Francisco  I  have  never  seen  the  streets  in  a  mantle  of 
white  in  a  residence  of  more  than  twenty  years.  In  St.  Louis, 
the  winter  months  rarely  have  a  day  which  is  really  comforta- 
ble in  the  open  air;  while  half  the  season  is  so  in  San  Fran- 
cisco,  the  sky  being  clear,  the  sun  warm,  and  the  breezes 
gentle,  so  that  the  weather  bears  a  strong  resemblance  in  tem- 
perature to  the  Indian  Summer  in  the  upper  Mississippi  basin. 
Our  coldest  winter  days,  at  noon,  are  as  warm  as  the  warmest 
in  Philadelphia. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  summers  are  cool  or  cold.  In  No- 
vember, 1854,  the  lowest  figure  reached  by  the  thermometer 
in  San  Francisco,  was  47°,  while  in  July  of  the  same  year  it 
was  at  46° — showing  that  at  no  time  in  the  former  month 
was  it  so  cold  as  at  one  time  in  the  latter,  and  the  weather  in 
neither  month  was  exceptional  for  its  season.  The  mean 
temperature  of  July  is  57°,  twenty-one  degrees  lower  than  in 
Washington  city.  There  are,  on  an  average,  seven  days  in  the 
year  when  the  thermometer  rises  above  80° — at  which  figure 
heat  first  begins  to  be  oppressive — while  in  St.  Louis  and  at 
Washington  there  are  in  every  year  from  sixty  to  ninety  days 
that  see  that  height.  No  matter  how  warm  the  day  at  noon, 
the  evenings  and  mornings  are  always  cool,  and  blankets  are 
necessary — at  least  a  pair  of  them — as  a  bed-covering  every 
night.  Although  the  mean  temperature  of  summer  differs 
little  from  that  of  winter,  yet  there  are  sometimes  very  warm 
days,  which  may  be  succeeded  immediately  by  very  cool 
nights. 

Professor  Robert  Von  Schlagintweit  says  that  "  the  climate 
of  California  resembles  in  general  character  that  of  Italy,  but 
has  not  its  objectionable  effect  of  depriving  the  people  of  the 
disposition  and  power  of  energetic  mental  and  physical  labor. 
The  dolcefar  niente  of  the  southern  Italian  is  unknown  in  Cal- 
ifornia." 


90  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Samuel  Bowles  writes  that  "  there  is  a  steady  tone  in  the 
atmosphere  like  draughts  of  champagne  or  the  subtle  presence 
of  iron.  It  invites  to  labor,  and  makes  it  possible.  Horses  can 
travel  more  miles  here  in  a  day  than  at  the  East,  and  men 
and  women  feel  impelled  to  an  unusual  activity." 

C.  L.  Brace  thinks  that  "  it  is  the  most  exhilarating  atmos- 
phere in  the  world." 

The  London  /Spectator  said,  editorially,  that  the  climate  of 
California  is  that  of  Greece  cooled,  and  the  climate  of  Tasmania 
is  that  of  England  etherealized,  and  the  two  are  the  nearest 
perfection  in  the  world. 

§  66.  San  Francisco. — San  Francisco  seldom  suffers  more 
than  three  hot  days  in  succession.  When  the  sun  has  had  an 
opportunity  to  rage  for  so  long  a  period,  the  air  in  the  interior 
of  the  State  becomes  so  hot,  that  it  rises  rapidly ;  and  the 
ocean-winds,  which  must  rush  to  supply  the  place,  never  fail 
to  bring  cool  weather  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Golden  Gate. 
Thus,  the  mercury  has  risen  (and  that  was  its  highest)  to  97°, 
and  it  often  falls  in  July  to  46° ;  and  such  a  change  of  fifty 
degrees  might  occur  within  twelve  hours.  The  average  range 
;of  the  thermometer  in  July  and  August  is  about  20° — from 
50°  to  70°.  Yet,  as  the  mornings  and  evenings  are  cool,  and 
the  noons  are  not  always  warm,  "  summer  clothing  "  is  seldom 
worn  by  men,  and  never  for  twelve  consecutive  hours.  The 
common  custom  is,  to  wear  woolen  coats  and  trousers  of  the 
same  thickness  in  summer  and  winter.  The  persons  who  visit 
San  Francisco  during  the  summer,  from  the  interior  of  the 
State,  where  the  climate  from  May  to  October  is  much  warm- 
er, and  where  summer  clothes  are  worn,  are  much  bothered 
at  having  to  bring  their  winter  clothes  with  them.  The  ed- 
itor of  a  Stockton  paper,  disgusted  with  the  climate  of  the 
metropolis  in  July,  expressed  himself  somewhat  after  this 
manner :  "  You  go  out  in  the  morning  shivering,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  you  are  dressed  in  heavy  woolen  cloth- 
ing, and  under-clothing,  and  have  a  thick  overcoat  buttoned 


CLIMATE.  91 

up  to  your  throat.  At  8.30,  you  unbutton  two  of  the  upper 
buttons ;  at  9,  you  unbutton  the  coat  all  the  way  down  ;  at 
9.30,  you  take  it  off;  at  10,  you  take  off  your  woolen  coat, 
and  put  on  a  summer  coat ;  at  11,  you  take  off  all  your 
woolen  and  put  on  light  summer  clothing  ;  at  2,  it  begins  to 
grow  cool,  arid  you  have  to  put  on  your  woolen  again  ;  and 
by  7  o'clock,  your  overcoat  is  buttoned  to  the  chin,  and  you 
si  liver  until  bedtime." 

The  coolness  of  the  summer  is  caused  by  the  winds  and 
fogs,  which  blow  in  from  the  ocean,  whose  temperature  at  the 
Farallones  never  varies  more  than  a  degree  or  two  from  42°. 
A  strong  wind  blows  along  the  Coast  from  the  north  and 
northwest  during  almost  the  whole  year ;  and  it  blows  strong- 
ly upon  the  land  for  several  hours  after  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  after  five  in  the  evening,  and  not  unfrequently 
it  continues  the  whole  twenty-four  hours.  The  common  prev- 
alence of  this  wind  during  the  afternoon,  renders  the  morn- 
ings the  pleasantest  part  of  the  summer  weather  in  San  Fran- 
cisco ;  and  the  more  delicate  and  fashionabie  ladies  habitually 
make  their  calls  and  allow  their  children  to  go  into  the  street 
only  before  mid-day.  In  June,  July,  and  August,  heavy,  wet, 
cold  mists  come  up  from  the  sea  at  six  in  the  evening,  and 
continue  until  eight  or  nine  in  the  morning.  In  the  winter, 
fogs  are  rarer,  and  do  not  commence  so  early  in  the  evenings, 
and  the  winds  are  not  so  strong  ;  so  that,  in  these  respects,  the 
winter  is  the  pleasanter  season  of  the  year. 

The  mean  temperatures  of  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  win- 
ter, are  54°,  57°,  56°,  and  50°  respectively,  showing  a  differ- 
ence of  only  seven  degrees  between  the  average  of  winter  and 
summer  ;  whereas  a  similar  comparison  in  the  climate  of  Xew 
York  city,  shows  a  difference  of  thirty-nine  degrees.  There  is 
a  range  of  two  degrees  more  in  San  Francisco  by  taking  the 
months  separately — January,  the  coldest  month,  having  a  mean 
temperature  of  49°,  and  September,  the  warmest,  a  mean  of 
58°.  October  is  as  warm  as  July,  and  in  some  years  it  has 


92  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

been  warmer.  The  mean  of  the  whole  year  is  54°,  a  temper- 
ature that  requires  heavy  woolen  clothing  for  comfort.  For 
vigorous,  industrious  men,  the  climate  of  San  Francisco  is  the 
healthiest  and  most  agreeable  in  the  world.  I  prefer  it  to  all 
others.  But,  to  enjoy  it,  a  man  should  have  warm  blood,  full 
veins,  and  active  habits  ;  if  he  is  weak  or  idle,  he  will  find  it 
too  cool  for  him.  It  is  a  climate  that  allows  a  person  to  be 
out  in  the  open  air  all  the  time ;  no  hour  is  lost  because  of 
either  excessive  heat  or  excessive  cold.  Women  do  not  like 
the  climate  so  well  as  men  ;  it  is  too  cool  for  their  less  vigor- 
ous constitutions  and  sedentary  habits. 

San  Francisco  does  not  lie  immediately  on  the  ocean,  but 
only  six  miles  from  it,  and  where  there  is  a  great  gap  to  let  in 
the  winds  and  fogs.  The  nearer  the  Pacific,  the  denser  and 
more  frequent  the  fogs,  the  stronger  the  winds,  the  warmer  the 
winters,  and  the  cooler  the  summers.  The  great  ocean  is  a 
powerful  equalizer  of  climate :  as  you  advance  into  the  inte- 
rior, the  range  of  heat  and  cold  becomes  greater.  In  the  coast 
valleys  you  can  choose  your  distance.  San  Rafael  is  ten  miles 
from  the  Pacific,  Petaluma  twenty,  Sonoma  thirty,  Napa 
thirty-five,  Suisun  forty-five,  and  Yaca  Valley  fifty.  Sonoma 
Valley  has  a  delightful  climate,  free  from  fogs  and  cold  winds, 
and  yet  blessed  with  a  sea-breeze  which  tempers  the  heat  of 
every  summer  day  to  the  precise  degree  necessary  to  the  per- 
fect happiness  of  a  man  who  wishes  to  take  life  without  exer- 
tion, and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Santa  Clara,  and  many 
other  valleys  along  the  coast. 

§  67.  Hot  Days. — According  to  the  self-registering  ther- 
mometer kept  in  San  Francisco  by  Thomas  Tennent,  in  the 
twenty  years  preceding  the  1st  of  January,  1872,  the  mercury 
rose  on  136  different  days  to  80°.  The  average  number  of  hot 
days  in  a  year  is  less  than  seven.  In  1861, 18 62, "and  1863,  not 
one  hot  day  occurred ;  in  1864,  and  1871,  two  each  ;  in  1869, 
four ;  and  five  years  out  of  the  twenty,  had  a  dozen  or  more.  The 
largest  number  in  one  year  was  twenty-two,  in  1855.  In  the 


SOCIETY. 


93 


score  of  years,  six  hot  days  came  in  March,  twelve  in  April, 
ten  in  May,  fourteen  each  in  June  and  July,  eleven  in  August, 
forty-one  in  September,  twenty-seven  in  October,  and  one  in 
November.  The  average  number  of  hot  days  is  a  fraction 
over  two  for  September,  which  lias  more  than  any  other  month. 
A  singular  alteration  appears  between  the  six  years  from  1852 
to  1857,  inclusive,  as  compared  with  the  next  six  from  1858 
to  1863,  inclusive.  In  the  former  period,  the  number  of  hot 
days  in  a  year  was  never  less  than  eleven,  and  the  average 
was  thirteen  ;  while  in  the  latter  the  highest  was  seven,  and 
the  average  was  less  than  three. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  hot  days  in  San 
Francisco,  when  the  thermometer  reached  80°,  for  every  month 
between  March  and  November,  inclusive,  in  twenty  years. 


YEAR. 

1 

i 

! 

1 

^ 

3 

! 

i 

1 

i 

H 

i8q2 

ry 

2 

I 

8 

i 

14- 

18^  . 

i 

•7 

•j 

•2 

IO 

181:4 

I 

2 

12 

i8« 

1 

2 

i 

2 

2 

6 

22 

i8c6 

•2 

I  j 

1857 

*J 

2 

J 

A 

14. 

18^8.. 

i 

2 

I 

7 

18=10 

i 

2 

6 

1860  

I 

2 

•2 

1861  

1862     

186^ 

1864 

2 

2 

i86s  

2 

•i 

C 

1866     

2 

I 

•3 

1867.     . 

f 

I 

2 

A 

A 

17 

1868 

•? 

•I 

1869.. 

I 

•J 

4 

1870 

2 

2 

I 

2 

7 

1871 

2 

2 

Total 

6 

12 

IO 

1  1 

4.1 

27 

x 

I  ^6 

The  number  of  hot  days  increases  rapidly  as  we  go  inland 
and  get  away  from  the  influence  of  the  ocean  winds. 


94 


RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


§  68.  Sunrise  and  Noon. — The  followiDg  table,  showing 
the  mean  temperatures  at  sunrise  and  noon,  was  prepared  by 
Dr.  H.  Gibbons. 


MONTHS. 

SUNKISE. 

NOON. 

cleg. 

AA 

deg. 
c6 

47 

60 

March  

48 

63 

April          

4Q 

65 

Mav 

CQ 

64 

CI 

68 

July     

C2 

67 

A.uorust  .    . 

CT 

67 

September  ....                                                          . 

c-j.  f 

60 

October  

W 

68 

49 

62 

December  ...                   .. 

4.r 

re 

Yearly  mean.. 

4Q.S 

6^.7 

The  mean  of  sunrise  rises  regularly  from  January  to  Sep- 
tember, but  that  of  noon  higher  in  June  than  in  July  and 
August.  The  strong  winds  called  in  from  the  ocean  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  air  heated  in  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin 
basin,  reduce  the  temperature  of  midsummer  in  San  Francisco. 

§  69.  Cold  Days. — The  number  of  cold  nights,  those  in 
which  the  thermometer  fell,  at  San  Francisco,  to  32°,  num- 
bered seventy-four  in  the  twenty  years  ending  June  30th,  1872, 
(according  to  Thomas  Tennent's  self-registering  thermometer) 
less  than  four  to  the  year  on  an  average.  Of  these  seventy- 
four  cold  days,  twenty-four  occurred  in  December,  thirty-three 
in  January,  eleven  in  February,  four  in  March,  and  one  each 
in  April  and  May.  In  the  winters  of  1852-53,  1864-65, 
1866-67, 1868-69,  and  1871-72,  or  five  out  of  twenty  winters, 
not  one  cold  day  occurred. 

The  seasons  of  1854-55,  1859-60,  .1860-61,  1863-64,  and 
1865-66,  had  each  one  cold  day. 

The  seasons  of  1853-54,  1862-63,  and  1869-70,  had  each 
three  cold  days. 


CLIMATE.  95 

There  were  four  cold  days  in  1857-58 ;  five  in  1856-57  ; 
seven  each  in  1855-56,  and  1870-71  ;  eight  in  1867-68  ;  nine 
in  1858-59,  and  twenty-one  in  1861-62. 

§  70.  San  Francisco  Fogs. — Dr.  H.  Gibbons,  speaking  of 
the  mists  and  fogs  at  San  Francisco,  says : 

"  It  is  curious  to  observe  the  conflict  between  the  absorbing 
power  of  the  air  and  the  supplying  power  of  the  ocean,  in  re- 
gard to  moisture.     Toward  noon,  when  the  wind  rises,  huge 
columns  of  mist  may  be  seen  piled  along  the  coast,  three  or 
four  miles  west  of  the  city,  and  pouring  in,  like  a  deluge,  upon 
the  land.     But  the  air  of  the  land,  which  is  always  thirsty, 
drinks  it  up  with  astonishing  avidity ;  so  that  thet*frnpending 
wave,  though  in  a  current  moving  from  thirty  to  fifty  miles 
an  hour,  makes  slow  progress.     By  the  middle*  of  the  after- 
noon, it  is  within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  city ;   and  there  it 
stands,  like  a  solid  mass  of  water,  several  hundred  feet  in 
depth,  rolling  and  tumbling  toward  you,  (not  without  grand- 
eur and  majesty)  and  threatening  to  overwhelm  you  in  a  few 
seconds.     You  await  its  coming,  but  it  comes  not ;  it  even  re- 
cedes, to  return  and  recede  again.     Not  until  the  sun  has  lost 
his  calorific  power,  does  the  atmosphere  reach  the  point  of 
saturation ;    and  then,  toward  sunset,  or  later,  everything  is 
submerged  by  the  vapory  flood.     In  the  course  of  the  even- 
ing,  the  wind  falls.     During  the  night,  the  mist  is  gradually 
dissolved,  and  disappears  from  the  lower  stratum  of  air,  while 
it  forms  a  heavy  cloud  above.     About  the  middle  of  the  fore- 
noon, the  cloud  is  dispersed  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.     The  dis- 
persion  is  rapid,  the  sky  often  becoming  entirely  clear  in  less 
than  half  an  hour. 

"If  it  be  possible  to  distinguish  between  fog  and  mist — re- 
garding the  former  as  impalpable,  and  the  latter  as  composed 
of  palpable  particles  of  moisture — I  may  remark  that  mist  be- 
longs only  to  the  summer,  and  fog  to  the  winter  climate  of  San 
Francisco.  There  is  no  mist  in  winter,  and  no  fog  in  summer. 
At  all  seasons,  the  drying  tendency  of  the  atmosphere  is  ob- 
servable. You  notice  none  of  those  phenomena  which,  in 


96 


RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


other  climates,  depend  on  an  excess  of  water  in  the  air,  and 
on  sudden  changes  of  temperature.  The  moisture  does  not 
condense  on  your  windows,  nor  on  the  plastered  walls  ;  salt 
does  not  liquify,  nor  even  exhibit  the  slightest  dampness ;  and 
the  housewife  has  no  trouble  in  drying  her  clothes,  provided  it 
should  not  rain.  In  fact,  the  atmosphere  of  San  Francisco,  in 
spite  of  sea  winds  and  mists,  is  a  dry  atmosphere." 

§  71.  January  and  July '. — The  following  table  shows  the 
mean  temperature  of  January  and  July,  and  the  difference  be- 
tween them  in  certain  prominent  points  in  California,  and  other 
countries  and  States. 


PLACE. 

JAN. 

JULY. 

DIFFEK 

ENCE. 

LATI- 
TODE. 

San  Francisco  

deg. 
4-Q 

deg. 
C7 

.  deg. 

8 

deg.  min. 
37   48 

Monterey   

t2 

^8 

6 

•?6  ^6 

Santa  Barbara 

1:4 

71 

17 

34  24 

Los  Angeles 

C2 

f£ 

23 

34  04 

Jurupa 

CA 

73 

IQ 

34  o2 

[  San  Diego  

ei 

72 

21 

"\2   41 

i  San  Luis  Rey  

C2 

7O 

18 

33    I  c 

Sacramento        .... 

4.C 

73 

28 

38    34 

Stockton  

40 

72 

21 

,5°  J4 

37    r6 

Humboldt  Bay  

40 

eg 

18 

4O  44 

Sonoma  

AC 

66 

21 

38  18 

St.  Helena  

42 

77 

3C 

38  30 

Vallejo  •.  

48 

67 

10 

38  05 

Antiooh    

AT. 

70 

27 

38  en 

Millerton 

47 

QO 

43 

37   no 

Fort  Jones 

•34 

yi 

37 

ill   A.O 

Fort  Reading  

44 

38 

40  "8 

Fort  Yuma  

"?6 

Q2 

s 

3^   43 

Cincinnati  .   .  . 

30 

74 

A  A 

30   06 

New  York  

31 

77 

4"> 

4O   37 

New  Orleans  

re 

82 

°7 

1Q     C7 

Naples  

5 

76 

30 

4O    ^^ 

Jerusalem  

47 

77 

o^ 
3O 

3  T      A"l 

Honolulu  

71 

78 

Ou 

7 

21   16 

Mexico  

C2 

fir 

Funch  a  1  

6n 

7O 

xo 
IO 

32    38 

London  

37 

62 

T  C 

O^    0° 
CT     ^Q 

Dijon  

33 

7O 

-j 

37 

D1  ^y 

Bordeaux  

41 

73 

J/ 
32 

4/    *0 

4.4.    ^O 

Mentone  

4O 

73 

33 

4.1    4.1 

Marseilles  

43 

7c 

32 

Genoa  

45 

77 

0* 

31 

4j    1/ 

Algiers  

C2 

7  ? 

O1 

D^ 

/  j 

^J 

ou  4/ 

CLIMATE.  97 

The  following  table  furnishes  the  figures  for  a  comparison 
of  temperature  at  various  points  on  the  Central  Pacific  Rail- 
road across  the  State,  from  the  level  of  the  sea  to  the  summit 
of  the  Sierra : 

TOWNS.  JANUARY.      JULY.      DIFFERENCE.      ELEVATION, 

dcg.  deg.  (leg.  feet. 

San  Francisco 49  57  8  30 

Livermore 48  68  20  485 

Sacramento 46  72  24  30 

Auburn 45  75  30  1363 

Alta 43  75  32  3612 

Cisco 30  62  32  5939 

Summit 27  60  33  7017 

Truckee 23  53  30  5846 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  winter  becomes  cooler  regular- 
ly, as  we  ascend  the  Sierra,  and  also  after  we  begin  to  de- 
scend on  the  eastern  side,  the  January  of  Truckee  being  seven 
degrees  colder  than  that  of  Cisco,  at  a  higher  elevation  on  the 
western  slope.  The  heat  of  midsummer  increases  till  we  reach 
an  elevation  of  3,000  feet,  and  then  begins  to  decline. 

January  and  July  are  the  two  typical  months,  and  from 
them  we  can  form  a  good  general  idea  of  the  temperature  of 
a  place. 

We  observe,  in  the  above  table,  that  the  January  of  San 
Francisco  is  4°  warmer  than  that  of  Sacramento,  7°  warmer 
than  St.  Helena,  18°  warmer  than  New  York,  12°  warmer 
than  London,  and  3°  warmer  than  Naples. 

San  Francisco's  July,  on  the  other  hand,  is  16°  cooler  than 
that  of  Sacramento,  14°  cooler  than  that  of  Santa  Barbara, 
20°  cooler  than  St.  Helena,  33°  cooler  than  Millerton,  20° 
cooler  than  New  York,  and  19°  cooler  than  Naples. 

The  difference  between  the  mean  temperatures  of  January 
and  July,  is  9°  greater  at  Santa  Barbara,  20°  greater  at  Sacra- 
mento, 27°  greater  at  St.  Helena,  35°  greater  at  Millerton,  34° 
greater  at  New  York,  and  22°  greater  at  Naples,  than  at  San 
Francisco. 
7 


98 


RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Honolulu  is  a  fair  sample  of  tropical  climate  on  a  small 
island,  very  equable,  but  14°  warmer,  in  its  coldest  month, 
than  San  Francisco  is  in  July. 

§  72  MontUy  Means. — The  following  table  gives  the  mean 
monthly  temperatures  for  a  number  of  places  in  California 
and  elsewhere. 


PLACES. 

| 

,0* 

I 

^ 

*L 

s  ^ 

*$ 

^      S        >- 

^i2  3 
P  p5  « 

be 

< 

Is 

>' 
o 
fc 

1 

AVER- 
AGE. 

San  Francisco 

49 
47 
45 
47 
44 
56 
42 
43 
34 

27 
31 

3» 

37 

46 
60 
71 
47 
52 
w 

51 

% 

53 
49 
5^ 
49 

53 
37 
37 
37 

£ 

40 
40 
54 
47 
60 

72 
53 
55 
•i/i 

5255 

5357 
5i  59 
5662 

54J59 
6673 

5657 
5562 

41 
43  '49 
3844 
3847 
6470 
4248 
4246 
61  63 
51.56 
62  63 

72  '74 
6054 
6270 
no  61 

555657 
596767 
6771  73 
688390 
657782 
768792 
66:70:77 
66  72  74 
61  6671 
51  61  71 
49  S2  63 
576773 
7581:82 
55  60  64 

SI8;? 
666565 

64  70  76 
64  67  70 
767778 
6617177 
778183 

6o!77l8o 

57 
66 

n 

79 

90 

70 

2i 

68 
58 

72 
82 

63 
62 

64 
76 

72 
79 
72 
82 

87 

58's7 
6462 
6664 
76|67 
71  62 
8676 

6659 
7266 

5752 

62  51 

S53 
66,55 
78:70 

57^52 
57||o 
64  60 
6961 
72^7 
7876 
72  60 
8073 
7866 

54 
54 
52 
55 

5 

54 
60 

44 
4i 
43 
45 
62 

45 
44 
55 

8 

74 
58 
65 

S? 

51 

47 
45 
48 
44 
55 
51 
43 
36 

$ 

55 
39 
40 

52 
49 
60 

73 
47 
57 

•17 

59 
66 
62 
73 

52 
46 

H 

50 
49 
60 
60 
65 
75 
62 

69 
62 

Vallejo     

Sacramento  ... 

Millerton          

Fort  Readinf 

Fort  Yuma  

St  .  Helena           

Vacaville               

Meadow  Valley           •  . 

Fort  Jones                              . 

Grass  Valley 

New  York  

Steilacoom  

London  

Funchal  

Honolulu 

Canton 

Nagasaki  .  . 

San  Francisco  has  one  of  the  mildest  and  most  equable 
climates  in  the  world.  Many  places  in  the  tropics  are  more 
equable,  but  with  the  equability  of  intense  and  enervating 
heat.  Vallejo  is  nearly  thirty  miles  from  the  ocean,  and  has  a 
warmer  summer  and  a  colder  winter  than  the  immediate  coast. 
Sacramento  has  the  climate  of  Naples  and  Jerusalem  through- 
out the  year :  its  summer  being  the  same  as  that  of  New  York, 
but  its  winter  fourteen  degrees  warmer.  Fort  Reading  and 
Nagasaki  have  nearly  the  same  figures.  Fort  Yuma,  in  the 
Colorado  Desert,  in  latitude  32 °  45',  is  warmer  than  New 
Orleans  in  29°  57'. 


1CLIMATE.  99 

The  Pacific  Railroad,  running  eastward  from  Oakland,  a 
suburb  of  San  Francisco,  passing  over  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the 
summit  of  which  is  reached  in  274  miles,  enables  the  traveler 
along  its  line  to  place  himself  in  any  comfortable  degree  of 
heat  or  cold,  in  ordinary  summer  days.  He  can  find  banks  of 
snow  near  Cisco  in  July.  Ten  miles  west  of  Oakland  is  the 
ocean-beach,  where  a  chilling  wind  blows  without  ceasing. 
Going  from  the  coast,  the  traveler  would  gradually  get  into  a 
warmer  clime,  until,  in  Stockton,  he  would  find  the  thermom- 
eter indicating  $5°,  most  of  the  summer  noons;  and  pro- 
ceeding up  the  sides  of  the  Sierra,  he  would  gradually  rise 
into  greater  cold,  to  the  eternal  frost  on  the  summit.  A  branch 
road,  running  south  to  Fort  Yurna,  would  enable  the  traveler 
to  enjoy  almost  as  great  a  variety  of  temperature  in  the  winter. 

§  73.  Clear  Days. — On  an  average,  there  are  two  hundred 
and  twenty  perfectly  clear  days  in  a  year,  without  a  cloud,  in 
the  Sacramento  Basin ;  eighty-five  days  wherein  clouds  are 
seen,  though  in  many  of  them  the  sun  is  visible;  and  sixty, 
rainy.  Italy  cannot  surpass  that.  New  York  has  scarcely 
half  so  many  perfectly  clear  days.  From  the  first  of  April 
till  the  first  of  November  there  are,  in  ordinary  seasons,  fifteen 
cloudy  days ;  and  from  the  first  of  November  till  the  first  of 
April,  half  the  days  are  clear.  It  often  happens  that  weeks 
upon  weeks  in  whiter,  and  months  upon  months  in  summer, 
pass  without  a  cloud.  Near  the  ocean  shore,  coast-clouds  or 
fogs  are  frequently  blown  up  from  the  sea,  but  they  disappear 
after  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

§  74.  Sirocco. — Several  cases  are  on  record,  of  a  sirocco, 
or  burning-hot  wind,  visiting  the  coast.  One  was  felt  at  the 
town  of  Santa  Barbara,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1859.  The 
Gazette  newspaper  of  that  place,  published  six  days  after- 
ward, said : 

"Friday,  17th  June,  will  be  long  remembered  by  the  in- 
habitants of  Santa  Barbara,  from  the  burning,  blasting  heat 
experienced  that  day,  and  the  effects  thereof.  Indeed,  it  is 


100  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

said  that,  for  the  space  of  thirty  years,  nothing  in  comparison 
has  been  felt  in  this  country,  and,  we  doubt,  in  any  other. 
The  sun  rose  like  a  ball  of  fire  on  that  day ;  but  though  quite 
warm,  no  inconvenience  was  caused  thereby  until  two  o'clock 
p.  M.,  when  suddenly  a  blast  of  heated  air  swept  through  our 
streets,  followed  quickly  by  others;  and  shortly  afterward 
the  atmosphere  became  so  intensely  heated,  that  no  human 
being  could  withstand  its  force :  all  sought  their  dwellings, 
and  had  to  shut  doors  and  windows,  and  remain  for  hours  con- 
fined to  their  houses.  The  effect  of  such  intense  and  unparal- 
leled heat  was  demonstrated  by  the  death  of  calves,  rabbits, 
birds,  etc.  The  trees  were  all  blasted ;  and  the  fruit,  such  as 
pears  and  apples,  literally  roasted  on  the  trees  ere  they  fell  to 
the  ground,  and  the  same  as  if  they  had  been  cast  on  live 
coals.  But,  strange  to  say,  they  were  only  burned  on  one  side, 
the  direction  whence  came^the  wind.  All  kinds  of  metal  became 
so  heated,  that  for  hours  nothing  of  the  kind  could  be  touched 
with  the  naked  hands.  The  thermometer  rose  to  nearly  fever- 
heat — in  the  shade.  Near  an  open  door,  and  during  the  prev- 
alence of  this  properly-called  sirocco,  the  streets  were  filled 
with  impenetrable  clouds  of  fine  dust,  or  pulverized  clay. 
Speculation  has  been  rife  since  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  such 
a  terrible  phenomenon ;  but,  though  we  have  heard  of  many 
plausible  theories  thereon,  we  have  not  been  fully  con- 
vinced yet;  however  that  might  be,  we  see  its  (terrible  effects 
all  around  us,  in  blighted  trees,  ruined  gardens,  blasted  fruit, 
and  almost  a  general  destruction  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 
here." 

A  correspondent  of  a  San  Francisco  paper  wrote  thus  :  "  At 
one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  17th  instant,  a  burning 
wind  came  upon  us  from  the  northwest,  and  smote  us  with 
terror.  At  two  o'clock,  the  thermometer  exposed  to  this 
wind  rose  to  133°  of  Fahrenheit ;  at  five  o'clock,  it  had  fallen 
to  122°;  and  at  seven  o'clock,  it  stood  at  77°,  where  it  had 
been  in  the  morning.  During  the  whole  time  of  this  visita- 


CLIMATE.  101 

tion,  every  one  stayed  in  the  house,  taking  good  care  to  keep 
doors  and  windows  closed.  A  fisherman  who  was  out  at  sea, 
came  back  with  his  arms  all  blistered.  Many  calves,  rabbits, 
and  birds,  died  of  suffocation.  The  greatest  losses  are  among 
the  vegetables.  The  fruit-trees  are  all  burned ;  the  pears  and 
apples  have  been  literally  cooked." 

A  similar  occurrence  of  a  hot  wind,  six  days  later,  in  Stan- 
islaus County,  was  thus  described  by  a  correspondent  of  the 
Stockton  Argus: 

"  The  thermometer  was  113?  in  the  shade.  The  wind  was 
avoided,  as  it  was  heated  so,  that  it  felt  as  if  actually  burning 
the  flesh — as  if  rushing  from  a  hot  oven.  In  one  team  of  ten 
horses,  three  fell  in  the  road,  from  heat ;  two  died,  but  the 
other  recovered  by  pouring  sweet  oil  in  its  throat.  The  ani- 
mal's throat  was  closed,  so  that  it  could  not  drink,  when  the 
oil  was  used  so  as  to  soften  the  throat,  and  open  it,  that  it 
could  swallow  water,  when  it  recovered.  The  two  that  died, 
expired  before  such  aid  could  be  used  with  them.  At  Burton's 
public  house,  at  Loving's  Ferry^birds  flew  into  the  bar-room, 
to  the  pitcher,  to  get  water,  so  tame  were  they  made  by  the 
thirst  caused  by  extreme  heat.  Birds  were  seen  to  fall  dead 
off  the  limbs  of  trees,  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  from  the  heat, 
as  if  they  were  shot.  The  wind  was  of  that  burning  heat, 
never  before  witnessed  by  the  settlers  there  since  their  arrival 
in  the  State." 

§  75.  Interior  Basins. — The  climate  of  the  Sacramento-San 
Joaquin  Basin  differs  from  that  of  San  Francisco  in  having  no 
fogs,  faint  sea-breezes,  winters  four  degrees  colder,  and  sum- 
mers from  sixteen  to  twenty  degrees  warmer.  The  greater 
heat  of  summer  is  owing  to  the  want  of  ocean  winds  and  fogs ; 
the  greater  cold  of  winter  is  caused  by  the  distance  from  the 
Pacific,  and  the  proximity  of  the  snow-covered  Sierra  Nevada. 
While,  at  San  Francisco,  the  thermometer  usually  stands  at 
70°  at  mid-day,  it  is  at  86°  in  Sacramento  city  at  the  same 
moment ;  and  these  sixteen  degrees  make  a  vast  difference,  for 


102  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA, 

they  change  comfort  into  oppression.  And  Sacramento  city, 
lying  near  the  great  gap  in  the  Coast  Mountains,  is  cooler  in 
summer  than  either  end  of  the  basin  ;  for  the  upper  portions 
of  both  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaqnin  Valleys,  nearly  every 
summer,  see  days  when  the  thermometer  stands  at  over  100° 
in  the  shade.  The  County  Assessor  of  Fresno  County  stated, 
in  his  annual  report  for  1857,  that  the  mean  temperature  at 
Millerton,  during  the  three  summer  months,  was  106°. 

In  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  heat  of  the  summer  at  mid-day 
is  about  the  same  as  in  the  Sacramento  \ralley ;  but  the  win- 
ter is  cold,  and  the  amount  of  rain  greater  in  proportion  to  the 
altitude  above  the  sea.  In  places  three  thousand  feet  above 
the  ocean-level,  ice  forms  five  and  six  inches  thick,  and  snowr 
deep  enough  for  sleighing,  lies  several  weeks  nearly  every  win- 
ter. In  towns  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  the  snow  falls 
from  five  to  ten  feet  deep,  and  covers  the  ground  four  or  five 
months  in  the  year. 

In  the  Enclosed  Basin,  the  winters  are  cold  and  the  summer 
days  very  hot ;  but  there  too  the  nights  are  always  cool. 

The  Colorado  Desert  has  exceedingly  hot  summer  days  and! 
warm  winters,  but  occasional  frosts  in  the  spring  and  fall,  as- 
well  as  in  the  winter. 

In  the  Klamath  Basin,  the  winters  are  very  cold,  and  frosts 
occur  nearly  every  month  in  the  year. 

§  76.  Rain. — Nearly  all  the  rain  in  California  falls  be- 
tween the  first  of  November  and  the  first  of  June — the  period 
called  the  "rainy  season,"  as  contradistinguished  from  the 
"  dry  season,"  which  occupies  the  remainder  of  the  year.  Those 
names,  however,  when  applied  to  any  special  season,  do  not 
signify  an  unchangeable  set  of  months,  but  rather  the  term 
during  which  the  rain  falls  or  the  dry  weather  lasts.  Thus,  we 
say  that  the  rainy  season  of  1858-59  began  in  October,  be- 
cause in  that  month  the  first  heavy  rains  fell ;  the  rainy  sea- 
son of  1870-71  did  not  begin  until  December;  the  dry  season 
of  1865  began  in  March  ;  that  of  1860  not  till  June  ;  and  so 


CLIMATE. 


103 


forth.  The  rainy  season  is  so  called,  not  because  the  rain  falls 
then  continuously,  but  because  it  does  not  fall  at  any  other 
time.  There  are  occasional  showers  in  June,  July,  August, 
and  September,  but  they  are  rare  and  light. 

The  following  table  gives  the  average  amount  of  rain,  in 
inches,  which  falls  during  the  four  seasons  of  spring,  summer, 
autumn,  and  winter,  at  various  places  in  California,  as  com- 
pared with  the  amount  in  certain  other  places. 


PLACES. 

SPRING. 

SUMMER. 

AUTUMN. 

WINTER. 

YEAR. 

San  Francisco   .  .    . 

6.64 

o.  13 

•3.  ?l 

13  33 

23  4.1 

Sacramento  .  .  . 

7  OI 

o.oo 

2  6l 

12  1  1 

-7  I     7-? 

II.  1O 

0.39 

4-8q 

12.44 

•"•/O 

2Q.O2 

Fort  Huraboldt.  .    . 

13.  ">I 

1.18 

4.87 

I  c;.o3 

34-  ^6 

Fort  Miller  .      . 

Q.C7 

O.O2 

2.80 

0  7Q 

22.l8 

Fort  Yuma  

0.27 

1.30 

0.86 

O.72 

3.  ic 

San  Die«x>  

2.74 

o.^c 

1.24 

e.  no 

IO.43 

Astoria  .... 

16.47 

4.00 

21.77 

44.  i  f 

86.31; 

Portland,  Maine. 

12  II 

10  28 

II  03 

JO  Q3 

4.c  -7C 

New  York  City 

II  69 

II  64 

Q  03 

IO  3Q 

MO--O 
43  6l 

New  Orleans  

11.29 

17.28 

J-V5 
9.62 

12.71 

^O.QO 

12.86 

14.00 

8.71 

6.20 

4.1.0? 

Rome       

7  27 

3    -7Q 

IO.8q 

Q  31 

30  86 

Paris  

C    Cl 

c  02 

6  51 

4  68 

ju.ou 

2°  O4 

Liver-pool  .  . 

>^3 
6.IQ 

Q.78 

10.81 

7.32 

34.  IO 

From  this  table  it  appears  that  the  amount  of  rain  is  about 
one-half  as  great  in  San  Francisco  as  in  those  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  Here  all  the  rain  falls  in  the  winter  and 
spring ;  there  the  amounts  are  nearly  the  same  in  the  four  sea- 
sons. They  have  as  much  rain  in  their  summer  and  autumn 
as  we  in  our  winter  and  spring.  We  have  less  rain  than  Liv- 
erpool and  Rome,  and  about  the  same  amount  as  Paris. 

§  77.  Railroad  Rain  Table.— The  following  table  gives 
the  rainfall  at  various  points  on  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road, crossing  the  State  near  its  middle  from  west  to  east,  with 
the  elevations  in  feet  and  the  distances  by  rail  in  miles  from 
San  Francisco. 


104 


RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 


PLACE. 

1870-71. 

1872-73. 

DISTANCE. 

ELEVATION. 

1  2.  CO 

10. 

O 

15 

"O" 

1  1.  DO 

6 

15 

NUeS                                      

7.7O 

29 

87 

47 

485 

Ellis  

*•  8O 

69 

76 

4.75 

12.5 

91 

23 

Sacramento  •... 

7.85 

n-1) 

3° 

Rocklin  

IO.OO 

1  60 

249 

17.45 

25. 

*74 

J363 

Coif  ax  

7O.9O 

•?•?. 

192 

2421 

Alta         

27.  OS 

206 

3612 

Cisco                  

72.0^ 

C2. 

230 

1:979 

•24.41: 

247 

7017 

I7.OO 

25 

257 

5846 

IO.CTO 

g. 

264 

5533 

Reno  ....    

2.^0 

292 

41507 

The  amount  of  the  rainfall  increases  at  the  rate  of  about  an 
inch  for  one  hundred  feet  of  elevation  as  we  ascend  the  Sierra 
Nevada  from  the  west,  and  decreases  still  more  rapidly  as  we 
descend  on  the  other  side.  Reno,  fifty  miles  from  the  summit, 
is  in  the  State  of  Nevada,  but  its  figures  indicate  the  rainfall 
of  many  places  in  California,  at  an  equal  distance  from  the 
summit  on  the  same  side. 

The  average  annual  rainfall  is  about  34  inches  at  Crescent 
City,  32  at  Humboldt  Bay,  23  at  San  Francisco,  18  at  Monte- 
rey, 14  at  Santa  Barbara,  12  at  Los  Angeles,  and  10  at  San 
Diego,  making  a  difference  of  24  inches  in  a  distance  of  less 
than  ten  degrees,  or  a  little  more  than  two  inches  to  the  de- 
gree. 

§  78.  State  Rains  for  twenty-three  years. — The  following 
table  shows  the  annual  rainfall  as  recorded  at  San  Francisco  and 
Sacramento  since  1849,  and  at  Stockton,  Los  Angeles,  Santa 
Barbara,  Nevada,  and  Napa,  for  a  few  years.  The  observations 
at  San  Francisco  are  by  different  observers,  the  figures  given 
by  Dr.  Gibbons  being  generally  less  than  those  by  Mr.  Tennent. 
The  difference  in  one  year  was  nine  inches.  Both  are  careful 


CLIMATE. 


105 


and  conscientious  observers,  but  there  is  probably  a  difference 
in  the  situations  of  their  gauges. 


YEAR. 

SAN  FRA 

Is  CISCO. 

3 
§ 

1 
1 

t 

1° 

1 
4S 

1 

a 

Tennent. 

Gibbons. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

!? 

1840—  co  . 

•7-3 

16 

i8c,o-c,i  .  .. 

7 

7 

ou 

I8C.I-C.2  .  . 

18 

18 

17 

l8<\2—  5^   .  .  . 

^e 

11 

l6 

l8C7-CA   .   . 

21 

21 

2O 

21 

i854-C<  

21 

24 

18 

II 

i8s,c,-c,6  

21 

21 

il 

8 

i8c,6-c.7  .  . 

IQ 

2O 

IO 

1857-58  

21 

10 

T8 

i8c8-co  .  .. 

22 

20 

16 

1859-60  

22 

17 

22 

1860-61  

IQ 

15 

JC 

7 

1861-62    

4Q 

18 

•7C 

1-2 

1862-63  . 

11 

15 

II 

4 

27 

1861-64  . 

IO 

7 

4 

17 

1864-65  

24 

21 

22 

IO 

CA 

1865-66      

22 

21 

17 

1C 

cq 

1866-67        

14 

12 

2C 

17 

8? 

26 

1867-68  

38 

4O 

12 

20 

II 

2C 

lie 

IO 

1868-69  . 

21 

21 

T6 

16 

IO 

T  C 

y 

IQ 

1860—70  . 

IQ 

2O 

I"2 

g 

IO 

CO 

1C 

H 

6 

7 

8 

41: 

XJ 

IO 

1871—72  . 

34 

11 

24 

8 

11 

14 

7O 

IO 

1872-71  .  . 

17 

The  observations  for  San  Francisco  in  the  first  column  were 
taken  by  Thomas  Tennent,  and  in  the  second  by  Dr.  Henry 
Gibbons ;  those  for  Sacramento,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Logan  ;  for 
Stockton,  by  Dr.  G.  Shurtleff ;  for  Napa,  by  W.  A.  Trubody ; 
for  Santa  Barbara,  by  Dr.  J.  B.  Shaw. 

The  rainfall  at  Shasta  in  1871-72,  was  96  inches  ;  at  Mur- 
phys,  in  1870-71,  17  inches ;  at  San  Luis  Obispo,  11.83  inches 
in  1869-70,  and  12.97  inches  in  1870-71  ;  at  Modesto,  in 
1870-71,  2.25  inches;  at  Chowchilla,  in  1870-71,5  inches; 


106  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

at  Marysville,  in  1870-71,  6.60  inches  ;  at  Chico,  in  1870-71, 
17.60  inches;  at  Sesina,  in  1870-71,  13.13  inches  ;  at  Placer- 
ville,  in  1861-62,  86,  and  in  1862-63,  26  inches ;  at  South 
Yuba  Reservoir,  in  1861-62,  109  inches;  and  at  Hoopa  Val- 
ley, in  1861-62,  129  inches. 

§  79.  Monthly  Table,  1849-1873.  The  following  table  of 
the  rain,  month  by  month,  from  July,  1849,  to  June,  1873,  is 
derived  from  the  observations  kept  by  Thomas  Tennent : 


CLIMATE. 


107 


1849. 

1850. 

1851. 

1852. 

1853. 

1854. 

1855. 

1856. 

£ 

£ 

jj 

£ 

^ 

^ 

1? 

£ 

B 

,; 

Q 

x 

a 

x 

| 

X 

~a 

x- 

d 

x 

| 

-/ 

1 

3 

^.' 

s 

5 

3 

:-• 

^ 

p 

~: 

9 

Q> 

-t 

O> 

Q 

9 

a 

<y 

Q 

O" 

a 

0> 

— 

O1 

Q 

O" 

July  

.02 

1 

Aiigust  

.04 

i 

.01 

1 

September.  . 

.33 

4 

1.03 

1 

.46 

4 

.15 

3 

.07 

2 

October  

3.14 

3 

.21 

2 

.80 

1 

.12 

2 

2.41 

<j 

.45 

5 

November.  . 

8.66 

8 

.92 

7 

2.12 

5 

5.31 

12 

2.28 

12 

.34 

2 

.07 

7 

2.79 

9 

December  .  . 

6.20 

12 

1.05 

4 

7.10 

14 

13.20 

20 

2.32 

11 

.81 

3 

5.76 

15 

3.7512 

1850. 

1851. 

1852. 

1853. 

1854. 

1855 

1856. 

1857. 

January  

8.34)15 

.72 

5 

.58 

4 

3.92 

11 

3.88110 

3.67]11 

9.40 

13 

2.45 

7 

February  .  .  . 

1.77 

5 

.54 

4 

.14 

4 

1.42 

5 

8.04J16 

4.77 

10 

.50 

4 

8.59 

15 

March  

4.53 

7 

1.94 

() 

6.68 

H 

4.86 

C 

3.51 

11 

4  64 

12 

1  60 

K 

1  62 

f, 

April  

.46 

3 

1.23 

8 

.26 

3 

5.37 

8 

3.12 

9 

5.00 

10 

2.94 

6 

May  .  .  . 

.67 

U 

.32 

1 

.38 

7 

.02 

1 

1.88 

fj 

.76 

:; 

.02 

Q 

June  

.08 

2 

.03 

1 

.12 

1 

33.1053 

7.40 

39 

18.44 

48 

35.26 

70 

23.87 

79 

23.68 

07 

21.66 

54 

19.81 

(Jl 

1857- 

1858. 

1859. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863. 

1864. 

July 

05 

a 

21 

1 

August  

.05 

2 

.16 

.02 

1 

.21 

a 

September  .  . 

.03 

1 

.02 

1 

.03 

1 

.01 

i 

October  .... 

.93 

3 

2  74 

4 

.05 

1 

.91 

12 

.40 

•> 

.13 

3 

November  .  . 

3.01 

11 

.69 

5 

7.28 

15 

.58 

3 

4.10 

12 

.15 

3 

2.55 

B 

6.68 

8 

December  .  . 

4.14 

8 

6.14 

14 

1.57 

6 

6.16 

21 

9.54 

10 

2.35 

9 

1.80 

8 

8.91 

18 

1858. 

1859. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863 

1864. 

1865. 

January  

4.36 

8 

1.28 

4 

1.64 

8 

2.47 

8 

24.36 

18 

3.63 

9 

1.83 

5 

5.14 

9 

February.  .. 

1.83 

8 

6.32 

18 

1.60 

7 

3.72 

8 

7.53 

10 

3.19 

10 

1.84 

8 

March  

5.55 

8 

3.02 

11 

3.99 

13 

4  08 

8 

2.20 

11 

2.06 

8 

1.52 

9 

.74 

4 

April  

1.55 

4 

.27 

4 

3.14 

8 

.51 

4 

.73 

9 

1.61 

9 

1.57 

4 

.94 

3 

May  

.34 

H 

1.55 

4 

2.86 

11 

1   00 

3 

.74 

5 

.23 

•> 

.78 

5 

.63 

2 

June  

.05 

1 

.09 

2 

.08 

2 

.05 

1 

21.88 

50 

22.22 

08 

22.27 

73 

19.72 

70 

49.27 

83 

13.62 

52 

10.08 

37 

24.73 

59 

1865. 

1866 

1867. 

1868. 

1869. 

1870. 

1871. 

1872. 

July  

August  

September.  . 

.24 

•2 

.11 

2 

.04 

1 

.12 

1 

.03 

1 

.03 

2 

.14 

1 

October  

.26 

4 

.20 

1 

.15 

3 

1.29 

•2 

.11 

•2 

.'21 

1 

November  .  . 

4.19 

10 

3.35 

12 

3.41 

6 

1.18 

5 

1.19 

5 

.43 

4 

3.72 

ii 

2.02 

3 

December  .  . 

.58 

8 

15.16 

18 

10.69 

18 

4.34 

11 

4.31 

7 

3.38 

8 

16.74 

11 

7.25 

10 

1866. 

1867. 

1868. 

1869. 

1870. 

1871. 

1872. 

1873. 

January  .... 

10.88 

i<; 

5.16 

15 

9.50 

17 

6.35 

1-1 

3.89 

9 

3.07 

7 

4.22 

9 

2  17 

8 

February  .  .  . 

2.12 

9 

7.20 

9 

6.13 

9 

3.90 

5 

4.78 

9 

8.T6 

10 

6.97 

18 

4.24 

17 

March  

3.04 

12 

1.58 

7 

6.30 

3.14 

12 

2.00 

8 

1.29 

a 

1.64 

9 

.78 

4 

April  

.12 

1 

2.36 

8 

2.31 

9 

2.19 

5 

1.53 

4 

1.93 

B 

1.10 

6 

.44 

May  

1.46 

6 

.03 

2 

.08 

'2 

.20 

2 

.21 

3 

.16 

2 

June..  .  . 

.04 

1 

.23 

8 

.02 

1 

02 

9 

34.92 

21.35 

19.31 

34.71 

18.02 

22.93 

oy 

71 

38.84 

78 

58 

47 

14.10 

40 

73 

108 


RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 


Mr.  Tennent  is  a  careful  observer,  but  I  think  the  figures 
for  January,  1862,  must  be  erroneous,  due  perhaps,  to  some 
exceptional  influences  near  his  rain  gauge ;  and  I  fancy  the 
general  fall  in  the  city  was  not  more  than  fifteen  inches  in  that 
month.  Dr.  Gibbons  reports  38  inches  for  the  seasons  1861 
and  1862,  or  eleven  inches  less  than  Mr.  Tennent,  and  I  am 
more  disposed  to  accept  the  smaller  figures. 

The  subjoined  table  is  compiled  from  Mr.  Tennent's  record  : 


MONTH. 

Column  .  .  . 
July 

INCHES  RAINFALL. 

COMPARISON  OF  MONTHS 

RAINY  DAYS. 

1 

8 

i 

3 

1 

a 

0 

fc 
4 

18 
8 
6 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
1 
3 
13 

ji 

p 

5 
21 
19 
20 
17 
19 
19 
16 
13 
14 
15 
14 
18 

1 

0 

6 
3 
4 
1 
6 
4 
5 
5 
7 
5 
5 
5 
5 

II 

7 
21 
18 
16 
15 
9 
7 
7 
9 
4 
8 
11 
13 

-§ 

SI 

H 

8 
24 
22 
17 
21 
13 
12 
12 
16 
9 
13 
16 
18 

1, 

H 

9 
3 

10 
28 
60 
182 
285 
240 
218 
214 
130 
81 
17 

fl  ° 

10 
0.1 
0.4 
1.1 
2.5 
7.5 
11.8 
10.  0 
9.0 
89 
5.4 
8.3 
0.7 

ffl  ;3 

11 

3 
4 
12 
15 
21 
18 
18 
14 
10 
11 
3 

S3 

s* 

12 
21 
18 
16 
15 
13 
11 
14 
11 
14 
13 
18 
13 

1 

0.01 
0.02 
0.20 
0.58 
2.87 
6.29 
5.10 
3.80 
3.08 
1.69 
0.59 
0.05 

2 
0.21 
0.21 
1.03 
3.14 
8.66 
16.74 
24.36 
8.59 
6.68 
5.37 
2.86 
0.12 

3 

0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
0.15 
0.58 
0.58 
0.00 
0.74 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 

August      

September  
October  

November  
December  
January 

February  
March  

April     .... 

May 

June  

The  first  column  shows  the  annual  rainfall  of  each  month 
for  the  last  twenty  years. 

The  second  column  shows  the  greatest,  and  the  third  the 
smallest,  amount  that  has  fallen  in  the  month  in  any  year  since 
1849. 

The  fourth  shows  the  number  of  years  out  of  twenty-four, 
in  which  the  montli  has  brought  no  rain. 

The  fifth  shows  the  number  of  years  in  which  the  month 
has  brought  less  than  the  average,  which  is  brought  up  by 
large  figures  at  intervals.  The  purpose  of  this  and  the  next 
three  columns,  is  to  show  the  irregularity  of  the  seasons. 

The  sixth  column  shows  the  number  of  years  in  which  the 
several  months  brought  fifty  per  cent.,  or  more  than  the  aver- 


CLIMATE.  109 

age.  The  average  of  December  is  6.29  inches ;  an  addition  of 
fifty  per  cent,  to  that  makes  9.44.  We  find  that  in  five  out 
of  the  twenty-four  years,  December  gives  fifty  per  cent, 
more  than  the  average,  and  the  next  season  shows  that  in  seven 
seasons  it  brought  at  least  fifty  per  cent  less  than  the  average, 
or  less  than  3.15  inches. 

The  eighth  column  shows  the  number  of  seasons  in  which 
the  several  months  have  brought  either  fifty  per  cent,  more  or 
fifty  per  cent,  less  than  the  average,  and  as  either  is  an  ex- 
treme, I  find  that  most  of  the  seasons  are  extreme  in  their 
character. 

The  ninth  column  shows  the  total  number  of  rainy  days  in 
twenty-four  seasons,  from  July  1st,  1849,  to  June  30th,  1873. 

The  tenth  column  shows  the  average,  and  the  eleventh  the 
greatest  number  of  rainy  days  in  each  month. 

The  twelfth  shows  the  number  of  months  in  twenty-four 
years  in  which  the  number  of  rainy  days  has  been  under  the 
average. 

§  80.  Drought  and  Flood. — Floods  usually  come  with  more 
than  thirty  inches  of  rain,  and  droughts  witli  less  than  sixteen 
at  Sacramento,  the  damage  being  dependent,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, upon  the  distribution,  as  well  as  upon  the  amount,  of  the 
rain.  Thus,  in  a  very  wet  season,  if  the  moisture  comes  in  nearly 
equal  quantities  in  each  one  of  the  sixteen  or  twenty  weeks, 
the  streams  do  not  rise  so  high  as  if  ten  or  fifteen  inches  came 
in  one  month.  The  flood  seasons  have  been  1849-50,  1852-53, 
1861-62,  and  1867-68,  or  four  in  twenty-five  years. 

The  years  of  drought  have  been  1851,  1856,  1857,  1861, 
1863,  1864,  1870,  and  1871,  or  eight  in  twenty-five  years. 
There  are  two  droughts  to  one  flood,  and  every  other  year,  on 
an  average,  brings  either  a  drought  or  a  flood. 

§  81.  Dryness  of  Air. — The  small  amount  of  rain  during 
the  winter,  the  entire  want  of  it  during  the  summer,  the 
warmth  of  the  sun,  and  the  great  number  of  cloudless  days, 
render  the  climate  a  very  dry  one.  As  one  consequence  or 


110  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

accompaniment  of  our  dry  climate  and  clear  sky,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  observe  that  near  the  ocean  the  clouds  are  rare- 
ly picturesque  or  sublimely  beautiful.  The  magnificent  sun- 
sets, where  the  god  of  light  goes  down  amid  curtains  of  gold 
and  crimson — those  high-piled  banks  of  clouds  which  adorn 
the  heavens  before  and  after  thunder-showers,  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley — are  rarely  seen  near  the  coast. 

Dew  is  rare  or  slight  over  a  great  part  of  the  State. 
During  the  summer  and  autumn,  many  of  the  rivers  sink  in 
the  sand  soon  after  leaving  the  mountains  in  which  they  rise ; 
the  earth  is  dry,  arid  baked  hard  to  a  depth  of  many  inches  or 
even  feet ;  the  grass  and  herbage,  except  near  springs  or  on 
swampy  laud,  are  dried  up,  and  as  brown  as  the  soil  on  which 
they  grew. 

It  has  been  said  that  very  hot  days  are  less  oppressive  in 
California  than  equal  heat  in  the  Eastern  States,  because  the 
cool  nights  serve  to  invigorate  the  system,  and  the  extreme 
dryness  of  the  climate  favors  the  evaporation  of  sweat,  and 
thus  keeps  the  body  cooler  than  in  districts  where  the  earth  is 
always  moist.  Evaporation  is  so  rapid  that  a  beefsteak  hung 
up  in  the  air  will  dry  before  it  can  commence  to  putrefy.  A 
dead  rat  thrown  into  the  street,  where  its  body  is  crushed  by 
wagon-wheels  so  that  its  viscera  are  exposed  to  the  air,  will 
"dry  up,"  and  its  stiff  hide  and  meat  will  lie  during  a  whole 
summer  in  a  mummy-like  condition.  In  many  places,  steel 
may  be  exposed  to  the  night  air  for  weeks  without  getting  a 
touch  of  rust. 

It  is  common  to  ascribe  the  effects  of  the  dryness  of  the  at- 
mosphere to  the  "  purity"  of  the  air ;  but  it  is  rather  the  ab- 
sence of  moisture.  I  know  no  reason  for  supposing  that,  apart 
from  its  dryness,  the  air  in  California  is  purer  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  continent.  It  may  be,  however,  that  the  con- 
stant decomposition  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter  lying  on 
wet  ground,  under  a  hot  sun,  causes  the  air  in  other  States  to- 
be  filled  with  such  gases  as  are  not  set  free  to  an  equal  extent 
here. 


CLIMATE.  Ill 

In  May  and  June  all  California  "  dries  up  " — the  rivers,  the 
brooks,  the  springs,  the  ditches,  the  vegetation — and  with 
them  many  of  the  resources  of  the  country. 

§  82.  Length  of  Days. — The  shortest  day  in  the  year,  the 
20th  of  December,  measures  nine  hours  and  four  minutes  be- 
tween sunrise  and  sunset  at  Crescent  City,  and  ten  hours  at 
San  Diego ;  while  the  longest  day,  the  20th  of  June,  measures 
fifteen  hours  and  seventeen  minutes  on  the  southern  border, 
and  fourteen  hours  and  nineteen  minutes  on  the  northern  bor- 
der of  the  State— or,  measuring  from  the  beginning  of  twi- 
light in  the  morning  to  the  end  of  twilight  at  night,  the  day 
measures  nineteen  hours  and  forty-seven  minutes  on  the  Siski- 
you  Mountains,  and  seventeen  hours  and  forty-three  minutes 
at  Fort  Yurna. 

§  83.  Thunder-Storms. — Thunder-storms  are  very  rare  in 
California.  Lightning  is  not  seen  more  than  three  or  four 
times  a  year  at  San  Francisco,  and  then  it  is  never  near. 
Thunder  is  still  more  rare.  Indeed,  many  persons  have  been 
here  for  years,  without  observing  either.  I  have  never  seen  a 
brilliant  flash  of  lightning,  and  have  heard  but  one  loud  clap 
of  thunder  in  the  State.  Thunder-storms  are  sometimes  wit- 
nessed high  up  in  the  mountains,  and  in  the  great  Basin ;  very 
rarely  in  any  of  the  low  land  of  the  State.  In  May,  1860,  a 
house  in  Sonora  was  struck  by  lightning ;  and  in  February, 
1861,  three  vessels  in  Humboldt  Bay  were  struck  in  the  same 
manner  :  and,  though  there  were  persons  in  the  house  and  on 
all  the  vessels,  no  serious  injury  was  done  to  either  person  or 
property  in  any  case.  On  the  25th  of  May,  1860,  a  China- 
man was  killed  by  lightning  near  the  Lexington  House,  on  the 
Coloma  road,  in  Sacramento  County ;  and  that  is,  I  think,  the 
only  death  by  electricity  in  California  on  record. 

The  weather  never  has  that  peculiar  condition  which  iso- 
lates everybody  electrically,  and  then  fills  them  with  electric- 
ity. In  New  York,  on  a  dry  winter  evening,  a  man  dressed 
in  woolen  and  shod  in  woolen  slippers,  after  sliding  along  on 


112  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  carpet  a  few  steps,  will  accumulate  so  much  electricity, 
that  when  he  thrusts  his  finger  at  another  person,  a  visible  spark 
will  fly  off,  and  he  can  light  gas  with  it !  But  this  amusing 
experiment,  not  uncommon  in  the  Eastern  States,  never  has 
been  successful  here. 

§  84.  Hail. — Hail  is  a  rarity ;  and  instead  of  falling  in 
July  and  August,  as  is  usual  in  the  Eastern  States  and  Europe, 
it  is  seen  in  California  only  between  February  and  May.  On 
the  10th  of  May,  1856,  a  storm  of  hail-stones,  some  of  them 
weighing  twelve  pounds  each,  visited  a  small  district  at  Butte 
Creek,  in  Shasta  County.  It  has  several  times  happened  that 
hail-stones  more  than  an  inch  in  diameter  have  fallen  in  the 
Sacramento  Valley. 

The  Aurora  Borealis  is  seldom  seen  in  California,  perhaps 
not  more  than  a  dozen  times  within  the  last  twenty  years. 
The  aurora  of  the  28th  of  August,  1859,  seen  over  a  great 
part  of  the  world,  was  plainly  visible  in  this  State. 

§  85.  Band-Storms. — In  the  Colorado  Desert,  and  in  some 
other  districts  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  sand-storms, 
similar  to  the  simoons  of  Africa,  but  not  so  dangerous,  occa- 
sionally occur.  The  sand,  which  forms  the  greater  portion  of 
the  soil,  unprotected  by  sod,  vegetation,  or  moisture,  is  swept 
away  in  dense  clouds  by  every  high  wind,  and  carried  many 
miles,  a  terror  to  man  and  beast.  The  storm  stops  the  trav- 
eler, because  he  dare  not  open  his  eyes  to  the  little  flinty  par- 
ticles; nor  can  he  eat,  for  the  dust  covers  his. food  and  fills  his 
mouth;  and  even  in  the  most  tightly-built  houses  the  sand 
penetrates  and  fills  the  air. 

A  newspaper  correspondent  speaks  thus  of  a  Colorado  sand- 
storm : 

"Should  the  traveler  happen  to  encounter  a  sand-storm, 
however,  he  may  not  get  along  so  smoothly.  A  huge,  black 
cloud,  rising  from  the  western  horizon,  warns  him  of  its  ap- 
proach. Rapidly  it  spreads  over  the  sky,  darkens  the  sun, 
and  the  fine  particles  of  sand  are  swept  before  the  gale  in  a 


CLIMATE.  113 

dense  and  suffocating  cloud ;  even  the  larger  gravel  and  peb- 
bles are  sometimes  lifted  from  the  plain  and  carried  like  hail 
before  the  force  of  the  blast.  The  horses  are  blinded,  para- 
lyzed with  fear,  and  no  urging  can  induce  them  to  go  for- 
ward. Were  it  otherwise,  to  go  on  would  be  folly ;  the  road 
and  sun  are  hid  from  view ;  no  landmarks  by  which  to  be 
guided — safety  bids  you  remain.  The  traces  are  unhitched, 
and  the  horses  tethered  to  the  wagon;  the  only  course  is  to 
securely  fasten  down  the  sides  to  the  wagon-top,  and  wait 
with  what  patience  one  can  command  until  the  storm  has 
passed,  which  will  be,  doubtless,  in  from  six  to  ten  hours. 

"Once  the  stage  encountered  a  sand-storm,  while  within 
three  hundred  yards  of  a  station ;  the  horses  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  move,  and  there  was  no  remedy  but  to  stay  by  them 
till  the  gale  had  spent  its  force,  though  the  station  was  even 
in  sight. 

"  I  have  found  such  a  storm  sufficiently  disagreeable  while 
housed  by  the  river-side,  the  fine  sand  penetrating  everywhere, 
and  have  no  ambition  to  encounter  one  upon  the  central  des- 
ert. Luckily,  they  are  not  very  common  in  the  severest 
aspect ;  in  summer,  quite  rare." 

8 


114  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SALUBRITY. 

§  86.  Healthy  Growth. — In  the  preceding  chapter,  proof 
was  furnished  that  the  climate  of  the  coast  of  California  is 
more  equable,  and  more  favorable  to  human  growth  and  com- 
fort, than  that  of  Italy,  Greece,  or  Palestine,  countries 
which  have  had  the  repute  from  remote  times,  of  having  the 
most  auspicious  skies  in  the  old  world.  In  the  chapter  on 
agriculture  and  botany,  we  shall  see  that  the  domestic  animals 
and  cultivated  plants  grow  with  a  rapidity,  and  the  fruit 
trees,  cereals,  and  kitchen  vegetables,  bear  with  a  fecundity, 
unsurpassed  and  probably  unequaled  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world.  In  my  researches  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn  of 
crops  elsewhere  so  large  as  many  recorded  in  California. 

The  Spanish  Californians,  before  the  American  conquest,  had 
remarkably  large  families,  and  were  long-lived  beyond  ex- 
ample. In  no  place  known  to  me  were  there  so  many  centen- 
arians relatively.  Prominent  among  the  early  settlers  were 
Ignacio  Vallejo,  Joaquin  Carrillo,  .Jose  Noriega,  Jose  Ar- 
giiello,  Jose  Maria  Pico.  Francisco  Sepulveda,  Jose  Maria 
Ortega,  and  Juan  Bandini.  These  men  had  eleven  children 
each  on  an  average,  the  largest  number  in  one  family  being 
thirteen  and  the  smallest  nine.  Two  children  of  Ignacio  Val- 
lejo had  each  a  dozen,  and  one  grandchild  has  had  a  dozen 
children.  Jose  Antonio  Castro  had  twenty-five.  It  was  a 
common  event  for  persons  to  have  several  hundred  living  de- 
scendants. Juana  Cota  had  five  hundred,  and  Senora  Domin- 


SALUBRITY. 


115 


guez,  who  planted  the  big  vine  at  Montecito,  in  Santa  Barbara 
County,  had  three  hundred.  Such  cases  may  be  found  in  every 
country,  but  in  no  such  large  proportion  elsewhere.  The 
records  of  the  Mission  and  parish  church  of  Santa  Barbara, 
from  1782  till  1847,  a  period  of  65  years,  show  that,  in  that 
period,  the  births  were  1,781,  the  deaths  441,  and  the  mar- 
riages 298.  These  figures  indicate  six  births  on  an  average 
to  one  marriage,  a  ratio  not  to  be  equaled  elsewhere. 

Our  later  statistics  are  defective.  The  majority  of  the  pop- 
ulation are  not  natives  of  the  country,  and  many  invalids  have 
come  from  the  Atlantic  side,  so  that  the  State  may  be  regarded 
as  a  sanitarium,  and  on  that  account  it  has  more  deaths  than 
properly  belong  to  it. 

According  to  the  Federal  census  report,  the  number  of 
deaths  in  the  year  ending  June  1st,  1870,  was  9,025  or  16  per 
thousand ;  a  number  which  is  moderate  in  itself,  yet  is  above 
the  average  for  the  whole  Union,  which  has  only  12.  The 
only  States  above  California  are  Louisiana,  20,  Massachusetts, 
17,  and  Missouri,  16.  The  average  mortality  among  civilized 
nations  ranges  from  20  to  40  per  thousand,  and  we  may  safely 
assume  that  the  report  that  eighteen  States  have  less  than  12 
deaths  to  the  thousand  annually,  is  grossly  erroneous.  The 
Health  Report  of  New  York  City  gives  the  following  figures 
of  the  deaths  per  thousand  in  certain  prominent  cities  of 
Europe  and  the  United  States. 


Naples 39 

Berlin 38 

Milan     38 

Florence 37 

Vienna    35 

Liverpool 35 

Turin 33 

Glasgow 32 

Manchester 31 

Rome 30 

Genoa 29 

Edinburgh 26 

Dublin 26 

London 24 


Vicksburg 41 

Troy 38 

Mobile 34 

Charleston 31 

Savannah 30 

New  Orleans 29 

New  York 28 

Baltimore 26 

Boston 23 

Chicago 23 

Philadelphia 22 

San  Francisco 21 

Cleveland 19 

St.  Louis. 16 


116  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  advantages  of  our  climate  for  salubrity  consist  mainly 
in  the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  equability  and  mild- 
ness of  the  temperature.  Moisture  combined  with  heat  causes 
fevers  and  pneumonia ;  combined  with  cold  it  brings  on  con- 
sumption. Malarial  diseases  and  affections  of  the  respiratory 
organs,  together,  carry  off  a  large  part  of  our  race,  arid  no- 
where can  the  percentage  of  loss  by  them  be  brought  to  a 
lower  figure  than  in  this  State.  In  Massachusetts,  29  out  of 
100  deaths  are  caused  by  diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs  ;  in 
Maine  27,  in  London  26,  in  Cuba  25,  and  in  California  30 ; 
but  of  these,  few  caught  the  disease  in  this  State.  All  the  au- 
thorities agree,  that  conditions  like  those  here  prevalent  are 
the  best  for  the  prevention  and  cure  of  consumption.  Blodgett, 
in  his  work  on  climatology,  expressed  the  opinion  that  not 
more  than  four  per  cent,  of  the  natives  of  California  will  die 
of  consumption ;  and  although  he  wrote  nearly  twenty  years 
ago,  nothing  has  since  occurred  to  show  that  he  was  wrong. 

§  87,  Infant  Mortality. — An  article  published  in  the  St 
Paul's  Medical  Journal,  in  1872,  says,  that  of  365,508  deaths 
reported  by  the  Board  of  Health  of  New  York  citj7",  from  1 804 
to  1853,  184,534,  or  more  than  50  per  cent.,  were  children  un- 
der five  years  of  age.  The  same  percentage  is  observed  in  the 
deaths  of  the  same  city  in  1866,  1867,  and  1869  ;  in  Chicago, 
from  1843  to  1869,  the  proportion  was  51  per  cent. ;  in  Phila- 
delphia, from  1858  to  1870,  45  per  cent.;  and  in  Baltimore,  in 
1860,  1861,  1862,  1865,  and  1866,  47  per  cent.  Some  of  this 
mortality  is  to  be  charged,  undoubtedly,  to  constitutional 
weakness,  inherited  from  weak,  diseased,  dissipated,  ill-fed,  or 
unhappy  parents  ;  but  far  more  is  due  to  bad  food,  insufficient 
care,  defective  ventilation,  scanty  clothing,  and  exposure  to 
wet  and  cold.  The  poor  farmer  who  should  lose  hal'f  his 
sheep,  pigs,  or  calves,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  be 
regarded  as  grossly  ignorant,  or  careless ;  but  the  rich  inhabit- 
ants of  the  cities  generally  lose  about  half  their  children  by 
death  before  maturity. 


SALUBRITY.  117 

According  to  the  mortality  statistics  of  the  Federal  Census, 
492,263  deaths  occurred  in  the  United  States,  in  the  year  end- 
ing June  1st,  1870,  and  of  those  203,213,  or  40  per  cent,  were 
infants  (under  five  years  old).  According  to  the  same  author- 
ity, the  total  deaths,  and  the  infants'  deaths,  in  California  in 
the  same  period,  were  9,025  and  3,450  respectively,  giving  a 
ratio  of  37  per  cent.  These  figures  are  less  favorable  to  Cali- 
fornia than  those  given  in  the  report  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  according  to  which,  in  twenty-two  places — including 
San  Francisco,  Sacramento,  San  Jose,  Oakland,  Marysville, 
Stockton,  Petaluma,  Los  Angeles,  Napa,  and  nearly  all  the 
larger  towns  of  California — the  total  number  of  deaths  in  the 
year  ending  June  30th,  1871,  was  4,831,  and  of  these  1,614 
were  children  under  five  years  of  age,  or  thirty-three  per  cent. ; 
while  in  San  Francisco  alone,  the  proportion  was  thirty-four 
per  cent.  This  implies  that,  of  ten  children  who  die  in  East- 
ern cities,  three  might  be  saved  by  keeping  them  in  San  Fran- 
cisco for  their  first  four  summers.  After  they  reach  the  age  of 
five,  the  danger  rapidly  decreases  for  twenty  years.  The  num- 
ber of  those  who  die  in  any  one  year  under  five,  exceeds  that 
of  those  who  die  between  the  ages  of  five  and  thirty. 
The  writer  of  the  article  above  referred  to,  says  : 
"  A  great  part  of  this  mortality,  which  I  believe  to  be  avoid- 
able, occurs  in  what  is  known  as  the  '  heated  term,'  (a  period 
of  special  dread  to  parents  with  young  children)  comprising 
the  months  of  June,  July,  August,  and  September.  When- 
ever the  thermometer  rises  and  remains  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time  above  80  degrees,  derangements  of  digestion 
among  infants  living  in  such  an  atmosphere  are  very  liable  to 
occur.  Milk,  and  all  animal  substances  used  for  food,  rapidly 
deteriorate  in  quality  in  regions  of  high  temperature,  and, 
unless  great  care  is  taken,  become  unfit  diet  for  infants.  The 
infantile  stomach  is  particularly  susceptible,  and  the  child,  by 
its  suffering,  will  speedily  show  the  bad  effects  of  the  least  de- 
parture from  pure,  fresh,  and  wholesome  food  or  water.  Per- 


118  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

sistence  in  the  use  of  food  that  has  caused  disordered  digestion 
is  shown  to  develop  cholera  infantum,  or  some  other  grave  form 
of  disease.  High  temperature  is  everywhere  recognized  as  one 
of  the  chief  provoking  causes  of  diseases  of  the  stomach  and 
bowels,  particularly  among  children  under  two  years  of  age, 
whether  nursed  at  the  breast  or  artificially  fed.  These  dis- 
eases in  their  inception  are  frequently  mere  disturbances  of 
digestion  caused  by  heat,  or  the  deterioration  of  food,  or  the 
unwholesomeness  of  diet.  According  to  the  weekly  mortuary 
reports  of  our  cities,  the  diseases  of  this  class  alone  are  referred 
to  as  the  cause  of  over  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  all  deaths  oc- 
curring during  the  summer  months  ;  and  the  mortality  among 
children  under  five  years  alone  increases  the  death  rate  in 
cities  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  over  the  other  months  of  the 
year.  As  heat  seems  to  be  the  constant  attendant,  if  not  the 
chief  cause,  of  the  '  summer  complaints '  of  children,  and 
consequent  great  mortality  among  them,  it  is  obviously  an 
element  to  be  taken  into  special  account,  and,  therefore,  de- 
sirable to  provide  for  those  who  are  actually  sick,  quiet  apart- 
ments or  homes,  where  they  can  have  free  ventilation  and  pure 
air  of  a  moderate  temperature." 

The  time  will  probably  come  when  a  large  number  of  in- 
fants will  be  sent  to  spend  their  early  years  away  from  the 
hot  and  malarious  districts  where  their  parents  are  compelled 
by  imperious  business  to  live ;  and  no  better  place  than  the 
Coast  district  of  California  can  be  found  for  the  rearing  of 
children.  A  large  part  of  the  mortality  of  infants  in  the  East- 
ern States  is  caused  by  scarlet  fever  and  cholera  infantum. 
These  two  diseases  carried  off  respectively  5,645,  or  ten  per 
cent.,  and  2,683,  or  four  per  cent.,  out  of  a  total  of  52,659  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  479,  or  five  per  cent.,  and  227,  or  two  and  a 
half  per  cent.,  in  California,  in  the  mortality  year  of  1869-70. 
In  Pennsylvania  fourteen  per  cent.,  and  in  California  only  seven 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  all  deaths,  are  chargeable  to  those  two 
scourges.  Pennsylvania  was  selected  for  comparison  because 


SALUBRITY.  119 

it  is  central,  and,  as  compared  with  the  other  portions  of  the 
Atlantic  side,  a  salubrious  State ;  yet  the  chances  of  death 
from  those  two  main  diseases  are  twice  as  great  there  as  here. 

§  88.  Malaria. — Climatic  influence  is  the  chief  cause  of 
sickness,  and  more  men  die  of  those  diseases  which  may  be 
classed  as  climatic,  than  of  all  other  diseases  combined.  The 
climatic  ailments  are  mainly  fevers,  which  carry  off  from  one- 
fourth  to  two-thirds  of  the  human  race ;  and  inflammations 
of  the  respiratory  organs,  which  carry  off  from  one-sixth  to 
one-third,  according  to  circumstances.  The  precise  manner 
in  which  the  organs  of  the  human  system  are  thrown  into 
disorder  by  meteorological  influences  is  a  matter  of  doubt  and 
dispute;  but  the  fungoid  theory  of  disease  is  now  gaining 
favor — the  theory  that  many  of  our  ailments  are  caused  by 
the  growth  of  vegetable  parasites  carried  into  our  systems  in 
the  form  of  germs  so  minute  that  they  float  about  in  the  air. 
These  germs  of  disease  multiply  with  the  greatest  rapidity, 
and  display  the  most  malignant  activity,  in  a  humid  and  hot 
atmosphere. 

The  principle  is  universally  accepted  among  physicians,  that 
malignant  fevers  owe  their  origin  mainly  to  heat  and  humidity. 
We  have  overwhelming  evidence  that  these  two  conditions 
always  accompany,  or  have  accompanied,  the  most  fatal  epi- 
demics and  endemics,  including  cholera,  yellow  fever,  vomito, 
jungle  fever,  Panama  fever,  and  various  forms  of  plague 
which  formerly  raged  in  Europe,  but  seem  to  have  entirely 
disappeared  now.  The  greatest  mortality  by  such  ailments  is 
invariably  in  hot  climates,  where  the  rainfall  is  great,  or  in 
warm,  wet  seasons ;  and  they  are  never  very  destructive  in 
high  latitudes  or  altitudes,  or  in  dry  countries.  In  some  trop- 
ical districts,  forty  per  cent,  of  all  foreigners  are  seriously  sick 
the  first  year  of  their  residence,  and  half  of  the  cases  prove 
fatal ;  and  even  the  natives,  accustomed  to  the  climate,  can- 
not venture  to  spend  a  night  in  certain  unhealthy  localities. 
The  migration  of  business  men  to  and  from  certain  tropical 


120  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

cities,  is  almost  as  regular  in  spring  and  fall  as  the  move- 
ments of  migratory  birds.  Experience  has  proved  that  men 
who  can  safely  spend  the  winter  in  New  Orleans  cannot  stay 
there  through  one  summer,  without  incurring  greater  danger 
than  soldiers  usually  do  in  a  severe  pitched  battle.  The  pres- 
ence of  malarial  diseases  is  generally  proportioned  to  the 
amount  of  rain,  but  in  certain  localities  it  depends  on  proxim- 
ity to  swamps,  and  the  direction  of  the  winds.  Thus,  if  the 
winds  blow  regularly  through  the  summer  in  a  certain  dis- 
trict from  the  westward,  a  town  on  low  ground  east  of  a 
large  swamp,  in  a  hot  summer,  will  be  sickly,  while  another 
town  on  the  other  side  of  the  swamp  may  be  quite  healthy. 
Let  the  wind  shift  for  a  few  weeks,  and  the  conditions  will 
change.  If  a  high  ridge  runs  through  the  sickly  town,  the 
people  there  will  be  healthier  than  on  the  low  land.  A  French 
army  that  encamped  on  a  malarial  piece  of  ground,  near  Na- 
ples, was  suddenly  reduced,  by  sickness,  from  28,000  to  4,000 
men.  In  1809,  a  British  army  corps  lost  10,000  men  at  Wal- 
cheren,  Netherlands,  by  malarial  disease.  It  is  highly  dan- 
gerous to  spend  a  single  night  in  the  open  air  in  portions  of 
the  Campagna,  near  Rome.  There  are  some  very  sickly 
places  on  the  Sacramento  basin,  to  the  leeward  of  the  tule 
swamps  of  ground  flooded  by  water  from  ditches  ;  and  the 
introduction  of  extensive  irrigation  will  injure  the  salubrity 
of  some  districts  now  free  from  malaria.  Yet  irrigation  will 
not  do  more  harm  in  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Valley  than 
it  does  in  Lombardy,  which  is  inhabited  by  a  handsome,  active, 
and  healthy  race. 

§  89.  Consumption. — Consumption  is,  in  most  cases,  the 
growth  of  a  cold,  humid  climate.  In  Massachusetts,  from  20 
to  25  per  cent,  of  the  deaths  are  by  consumption ;  in  Philadel- 
phia, 12  per  cent.  Boston  has  more  consumption,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  population,  than  any  other  place  in  the  Union.  It 
is  more  common  among  those  classes  confined  to  the  house 
than  those  who  work  in  the  open  air,  the  deaths  by  consump- 


SALUBRITY.  121 

tion,  in  some  occupations,  rising  to  33  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
mortality.     The  Indians  at  Puget  Sound  also  suffer  much  from 
consumption,  probably  because  they  spend  a  great  portion  of 
their  time  in  huts  filled  with  smoke. 

At  Philadelphia,  12  per  cent,  of  the  deaths  are  caused  by 
consumption,  4  by  pneumonia,  2  by  croup,  and  2  by  bronchitis ; 
but  generally,  in  the  Northern  States,  there  are  two  cases  of 
consumption  to  one  of  pneumonia.  The  proportion  of  the  two 
diseases  is  reversed  in  the  cotton  districts,  pneumonia  appear- 
ing to  replace  consumption  in  the  warm  climates.  The  deaths 
by  aft  diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs  are  29  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  mortality  in  Massachusetts,  27  in  Maine,  26  in  Lon- 
don, 25  in  Havana,  24  in  Michigan,  and  20  in  New  York.  In 
California,  most  of  our  consumptives  are  imported.  The  dry- 
ness  and  warmth  of  our  climate  oifer  little  encouragement  for 
it,  and  the  proportion  of  deaths  from  it  is  less  than  one-half 
that  in  New  York. 

A  mild,  dry  climate  is  not  only  a  protection  against  con- 
sumption, but  also  a  cure  for  it.  Dr.  Copeland  says  :  "  Moist- 
ure is  a  good  conductor  of  electricity ;  dry  air,  a  bad  one. 
The  human  body  receives  electricity  constantly  from  the  earth, 
with  which  it  is  in  contact,  and  probably  develops  it  through 
the  organic  processes.  In  dry  weather,  this  electricity  is  re- 
tained, in  a  great  measure,  and  the  body  becomes  loaded  with 
it,  the  nervous  system  is  stimulated,  and  buoyancy  and  cheer- 
fulness of  mind  follow.  In  damp  weather,  on  the  contrary, 
the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere  acts  as  a  conductor,  and  con- 
stantly carries  away  the  electricity  from  the  body ;  thence  it 
is  at  a  minimum,  and  mental  depression  follows." 

Whether  this  explanation  be  correct  or  not,  it  is  certain  that 
a  warm,  moist  climate  impairs  the  appetite  and  causes  languor, 
and  a  dry,  cool  atmosphere  stimulates  the  appetite  and  invig- 
orates the  system.  As  debility  is  the  main  difficulty  in  con- 
sumption, it  is  evident  that  the  warm,  moist  climate  should  be 
carefully  avoided. 


122  BESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Persons  suffering  with  debility,  as  well  as  consumption,  should 
seek  a  climate  marked  by  dryness,  equability,  and  mildness. 
The  nearest  approach  to  such  a  climate  in  Europe  is  found  on 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  at  Mentone,  Nice,  and  Can- 
nes, between  Marseilles  and  Genoa,  and  consequently  the  best 
districts  there  are  filled  with  invalids. from  other  parts  of  the 
continent.  The  southern  part  of  this  State  has  a  still  better 
climate,  more  equable,  drier,  and  milder.  The  injurious  influ- 
ence of  moist  air  upon  diseases  of  the  throat  and  lungs  has  not 
been  explained,  but  it  is  felt  very  plainly.  The  equability  and 
mildness  of  temperature  stimulate  to  exertion,  and  protect  the 
invalid  from  dangerous  chills  and  enervating  heat,  and  take 
away  any  motive  for  cutting  off  ventilation. 

It  is  only  of  late  years  that  much  attention  has  been  given 
to  medical  climatology,  and  there  is,  as  yet,  no  comprehensive 
treatise  upon  it.  The  books  which  treat  of  it  omit  to  men- 
tion many  material  facts,  and  are  devoted  to  the  praise  of 
small  districts.  For  the  cure  of  diseases  of  the  respiratory 
organs,  no  part  of  the  continent  is  equal  to  California.  Our 
climate  has  the  equable,  mild,  and  dry  character  that  is  needed 
by  persons  suffering  with  bronchitis  and  various  forms  of  pneu- 
monia. It  is  now  conceded  by  leading  physicians  that  con- 
sumption, except  in  very  advanced  stages  of  the  disease,  is 
curable,  not  by  .drugs,  which  are  injurious,  but  by  living  in 
the  open  air,  especially  in  a  dry  atmosphere.  The  disease  is 
mainly  caused  by  breathing  foul  air,  and  is  most  destructive  to 
persons  dwelling  in  close  rooms.  The  only  cures  of  advanced 
cases  of  consumption,  well  authenticated,  within  the  range  of 
our  experience  and  study,  were  effected  by  the  influence  of  the 
open  air. 

The  mildness  of  climate  is  important  to  invalids  generally. 
Perfect  ventilation  and  exercise  are  necessary  in  many  diseases, 
and  they  will  always  be  neglected  if  they  are  not  conducive  to 
comfort,  as  they  are  here.  Cold  prevents  ventilation,  and  heat 
prevents  exercise.  In  chronic  diseases,  as  a  class,  changes  of 


SALUBRITY.  123 

climate,  diet,  and  occupation  are  among  the  chief  remedies — 
especially  of  climate.  Here  we  have  the  variety  needed — from 
the  eternal  snows  of  the  California!!  Alps,  through  a  dozen  dif- 
'ferent  phases  of  eternal  spring  and  summer,  to  the  burning 
sands  of  the  Colorado  Desert,  with  its  four  inches  of  rainfall 
in  a  year.  The  patient  can  dwell  under  the  palm  trees  or  in 
the  orange  groves  of  Los  Angeles,  under  the  giant  fig  trees  of 
San  Luis  Obispo,  in  the  vineyards  of  Sonoma,  in  the  orchards 
of  Santa  Clara  or  of  Yolo,  in  the  evergreen  oak  groves  of 
Alameda,  amidst  the  mammoth  trees  of  Calaveras,  the  majes- 
tic white  oak  groves  of  Napa,  under  the  shadow  of  the  cliffs 
of  Yosemite,  or  amidst  the  sulphurous  fumes  of  Geyser  Canon. 
§  90.  State  Mortality  Table. — The  following  table  of  the 
mortality  of  certain  towns  in  California,  for  the  year  ending 
June  30th,  1871,  was  prepared  by  Dr.  Logan3  Secretary  of 
the  Board  of  Health : 


124 


RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


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SALUBRITY.  125 

§  91.  Prevalent  Diseases. — We  have  in  California  less  con- 
sumption, scarlet  fever,  cholera  infantum,  and  sunstroke,  than 
in  the  Atlantic  States,  and  more  rheumatism  and  neuralgia, 
heart  disease,  aneurism,  and  diseases  of  the  eyes,  than  in  the 
Atlantic  States.  In  some  districts  we  have  far  less  malarious 
disease ;  in  others,  as  much.  It  has  been  observed  that  ozone 
is  rare  where  malarious  epidemics  prevail,  and  that  it  is 
abundant  in  the  trade  winds  that  blow  throughout  the  summer 
along  our  coast.  Whenever  the  winds  stop  for  a  few  days  in 
the  middle  of  the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  basin,  malarious 
fever  prevails.  In  the  natural  advantages  of  the  coolness  of 
summer  climate,  all  those  conditions  which  indicate  malaria, 
the  constancy  and  force  of  the  breezes,  and  the  abundance  of 
ozone,  San  Francisco  has  no  equal  among  the  great  cities. 
Sunstroke,  which  has  in  one  season  killed  300  persons  in  New 
York  city,  is  almost  unknown  here,  even  in  the  interior  val- 
leys, where  the  summers  are  much  hotter  than  in  New  York. 
The  dryness  of  our  atmosphere  secures  a  rapidity  of  evapora- 
tion which  keeps  down  the  temperature  of  the  body.  Neither 
are  any  lives  lost  in  our  valleys  by  the  intense  cold,  such  as 
killed  seventy  persons,  and  maimed  thirty  more,  in  Minnesota, 
in  the  winter  of  1872-73. 

§  92.  Mineral  Waters. — California  is  peculiarly  rich  in  min- 
eral waters.  Elsewhere  the  springs  suitable  for  medicinal  pur- 
poses are  few  and  far  apart ;  here  they  are  found  in  great  clus- 
ters, and  they  may  be  numbered  by  the  thousand.  They  ex- 
tend from  the  borders  of  Oregon  to  Mexico,  and  from  the 
edge  of  the  Pacific  to  the  alkali  plains  of  the  Great  Basin. 
Surprise  Valley,  in  latitude  41°  40',  at  the  eastern  base  of  the 
Sierra,  has  hundreds  of  hot  and  cold  saline,  chalybeate,  and 
sulphur  springs ;  the  mud  volcanoes  of  the  Colorado  Desert, 
and  the  hot  springs  of  Warner's  Valley,  are  samples  of  what 
are  to  be  found  in  the  extreme  south  ;  but  the  most  remarka- 
ble collections  are  in  Napa,  Sonoma,  and  Lake  Counties,  about 
a  hundred  miles  north  of  San  Francisco,  and  conveniently  ac- 
cessible by  steam  and  stage. 

"^  B  R  A>  ^ 

OF  .THB 

UNIVERSITY 


126  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Mount  St.  Helena,  in  the  first  of  those  counties,  the  Geysers 
in  the  second,  and  Clear  Lake  in  the  third,  all  of  volcanic  ori- 
gin, and  at  least  two  of  them  the  craters  of  great  volcanoes, 
are  the  three  corners  of  a  triangle,  with  sjdes  thirty  miles 
long,  and  an  area  that  was  once  alive  with  subterranean  fires. 
The  basaltic  columns  in  regular  crystallization,  found  near  the 
summit  of  St.  Helena,  extensive  strata  of  trap  covering  the 
adjacent  ridges,  the  tufa  formed  by  torrents  of  mud  or  wet 
sand,  that  came  from  volcanic  vents  on  the  triangle,  making 
up  considerable  parts  of  the  ridges  between  Suisun  and  Napa, 
and  between  Napa  and  Sonoma  Valleys,  the  petrified  forests 
near  Calistoga,  the  sulphur  bank  and  the  borax  pond  near 
Clear  Lake,  all  indicate  the  remarkable  influences  that  were 
active  in  that  region  in  a  remote  age.  Not  unworthy  of  their 
associates,  are  the  mineral  springs  in  the  same  region.  We 
find  them  hot,  warm,  and  cold  ;  rich  in  sulphur,  iron,  alum, 
Epsom  salts,  carbonates,  chlorides,  and  borates  of  soda,  car- 
bonic acid,  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  carburetted  hydrogen,  and 
other  gases. 

The  following  analytical  table  gives  the  number  of  grains 
of  the  different  solids  contained  in  a  gallon  of  certain  mineral 
waters  of  California.  The  analysis  of  Napa  Soda  was  made 
by  L.  Lanzweert ;  those  of  the  White  Sulphur  water  by  Prof. 
John  Le  Conte ;  that  of  Sanel  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Bauer ;  that  of 
Adams  by  Thomas  Price  ;  and  the  others  by  unknown  authori- 
ties. 


SALUBRITY. 


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There  are  traces  of  iodides  and  bromides  in  Paso  Robles 
Spring  No.  2 ;  of  nitric  acid  and  salt  of  potash  in  Adams 
Spring ;  of  sulphate  of  potash  in  Summit  Soda  Spring ;  of  mag- 


128  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

nesia  in  Saratoga ;  of  siliceous  acid  and  carbonate  of  iron  in 
Sanel ;  of  silica  in  New  Almaden,  and  of  alumina  in  Calistoga. 

Adams  has  304,  New  Almaden  112,  Summit  Soda  186, 
Paso  Robles  No  1,  47,  Paso  Robles  No.  2,  10  cubic  inches 
of  carbonic  acid  gas  in  a  gallon  ;  Sanel  has  an  abundance ; 
and  Napa  Soda  has  also  an  abundance,  probably  exceeding 
any  of  the  others.  Paso  Robles  No.  1  has  10  grains  of  car- 
bonic acid  to  the  gallon,  the  only  instance  of  determining 
its  quantity  by  weight. 

White  Sulphur  No.  1  has  6,  White  Sulphur  No.  2  has  4, 
White  Sulphur  No.  3  has  traces,  Calistoga  has  3  cubic  inches, 
and  Paso  Robles  No.  1  has  a  saturating  quantity  of  sulphur- 
etted hydrogen. 

The  Paso  Robles  Spring  marked  No.  1  is  the  "Mud  Spring"; 
the  Sanel  Spring  has  been  called  the  "  California  Seltzer  ";  the 
Saratoga,  the  "Pacific  Congress";  the  New  Almaden,  the 
"  California  Vichy,"  and  so  on. 

The  carbonate  of  soda,  carbonate  of  iron,  iodides  and  bro- 
mides, are  among  the  most  beneficial  thereapeutic  agents  found 
in  mineral  water ;  but  sulphates  of  magnesia,  and  soda  and 
phosphates,  are  also  desirable  ;  and  the  iodides  and  bromides,  of 
which  traces  are  found  in  the  waters  of  Paso  Robles,  are  es- 
pecially valuable  in  certain  diseases. 

§  93.  Health  Resorts. — The  places  which  have  been  most 
in  favor  with  Americans  of  late  years,  as  health  resorts  for 
consumptives,  have  been  Mentone  and  vicinity,  in  southeastern 
France,  Florida,  Minnesota,  and  California.  The  tables  given 
in  the  chapter  on  climate,  will  enable  the  reader  to  compare 
the  temperature  and  rainfall  of  these  places.  We  pronounce, 
without  hesitation,  against  Florida  and  Minnesota :  the  former, 
because  it  is  very  moist  as  well  as  too  warm,  and  the  latter, 
because  it  is  very  cold.  Neither  is  fit  for  residence  through 
the  year.  Santa  Barbara,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  type 
of  the  entire  coast  district  south  of  Point  Argiiello,  is  14° 
warmer  in  January  than  Mentone,  and  has  eight  inches  less 


SALUBRITY.  129 

rain.  St.  Helena  very  nearly  resembles  Mentone,  being  two 
degrees  warmer  in  January,  four  degrees  warmer  in  July,  and 
having  about  seven  inches  more  rain. 

There  are,  however,  extensive  districts  in  California  for 
which  we  have  no  meteorological  tables,  and  some  of  these 
may  hereafter  come  into  higher  favor  with  consumptives  than 
any  of  those  to  which  they  now  throng.  Among  these,  Pope 
and  Berreyesa  Valleys,  east  of  Mount  St.  Helena,  and  the  head 
of  the  Salinas,  Saticoy,  and  Cuyama  Rivers,  between  latitudes 
34°  and  35°  30',  deserve  special  attention.  These  valleys  are 
west  of  the  Diablo  ridge,  but  are  protected  against  the  ocean 
winds  and  fogs  by  a  distance  of  about  thirty  miles  covered 
with  mountains,  beyond  which  the  air  is  dry  and  the  climate 
warm. 

Special  attention  should  be  given  to  the  fact  that  Dr.  J.  H. 
Bennet,  who  first  brought  Mentone  into  notice  as  a  health  re- 
sort for  consumptives,  and  whose  book,  "  Winter  in  the  South 
of  Europe,"  is  our  authority,  strictly  orders  his  patients  to 
leave  Mentone  in  the  spring,  because  the  summer  is  too  warm 
and  moist. 

§  94.  San  Rafael  and  St.  Jlelena.—The  places  most  in  fa- 
vor as  sanitariums  in  California,  are  San  Rafael,  St.  Helena, 
Santa  Barbara,  Los  Angeles,  and  San  Diego. 

San  Rafael  is  fifteen  miles  north  of  San  Francisco,  and  eight 
miles  from  the  ocean,  and  has  less  fog  and  wind  than  any 
other  town  near  the  edge  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  It  is  not 
equal  in  the  dryness  of  its  atmosphere  and  the  scantiness  of 
rainfall  to  the  southern  coast,  but  it  has  the  great  advantage 
that  its  residents  can  spend  five  or  six  hours  in  the  middle  of 
the  day  in  San  Francisco,  and  thus  attend  to  business  there. 
A  thermometrical  record  shows  that  the  mean  temperature  of 
January,  is  50°  at  9  A.  M.,  58°  at  12  M;  60°  at  3  p.  M.,  and  51° 
at  6  P.  M.  ;  while  in  July  the  means  for  the  same  hours  are  59°, 
65°,  68°  and  66°  respectively.  These  figures  not  having  been 
kept  at  the  times  usually  observed  by  meteorologists,  cannot 
9 


130  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

be  compared  safely  with  the  other  figures  kept  according  to 

rule. 

St.  Helena  is  forty  miles  from  the  ocean  and  fifty  miles 
north  of  San  Francisco,  near  the  head  of  N"apa  Valley,  and 
shut  in  by  high  mountains,  which  cut  off  the  wind  and  fog. 
Though  the  rainfall  is  greater  than  at  San  Rafael,  yet  the  at- 
mosphere is  drier  and  more  agreeable  to  consumptives  and 
asthmatics.  The  distance  from  San  Francisco  is  three  times 
greater  than  to  San  Rafael,  yet' the  people  of  St.  Helena  can 
come  to  the  metropolis,  spend  three  hours,  and  return  the 
same  day.  About  two  miles  away  are  the  White  Sulphur 
Springs,  a  fashionable  summer  resort ;  eight  miles  off  is  Calis- 
toga,  another  summer  resort,  and  eight  miles  further  is  the 
summit  of  Mt.  St.  Helena.  The  town  is  in  the  center  of  a 
grape-growing  district,  and  unimproved  land  ranges  from  $100 
to  $200  per  acre  in  the  vicinity. 

§  95.  Santa  Barbara.— Santa  Barbara,  in  latitude  34°  24', 
on  the  ocean  shore,  about  f6rty  miles  east  of  Point  Argiiello  un- 
der the  shelter  of  the  Santa  Inez  ridge,  which  runs  east  and 
west,  is  more  in  favor  at  present  with  consumptives  than  any 
other  town  in  the  State.  Dr.  Logan,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  has  recommended  it  as  having  the  best  climate  in  the 
State  for  diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs.  He  says : 
"  Bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Coast  Range  Mountains,  of  an 
average  height  of  3,000  feet,  which  prove  an.  insurmountable 
barrier  to  the  peculiar  harsh  oceanic  winds,  and  on  the  south 
by  a  channel  formed  by  the  Santa  Cruz  and  other  islands,  some 
twenty  miles  distant,  which  serve  as  well  to  deflect  the  cold 
current  that  sweeps  down  from  the  Arctic  seas  as  to  afford 
protection  from  the  concomitant  cold  fogs  that  roll  in  FO  unin- 
terruptedly in  other  parts  of  the  coast,  this  portion  of  California 
stands  out  pre-eminently  the  land  of  promise  to  the  weary  des- 
ponding invalid." 

Dr.  Brinkerhoff,  a  resident  of  Santa  Barbara,  writes  thus : 
"  Some  ten  miles  from  Santa  Barbara,  in  a  westerly  direction, 


SALUBRITY.  131 

in  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the 
shore,  is  an  immense  spring  of  petroleum,  the  product  of  which 
continually  rises  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  floats  upon  it 
over  an  area  of  many  miles.  This  mineral  oil  may  be  seen  any 
day  from  the  decks  of  the  steamers  plying  between  here  and 
San  Francisco,  or  from  the  high  banks  along  the  shore,  its 
many  changing  hues  dancing  upon  the  shifting  waves  of  the  sea, 
and  affording  various  suggestions,  both  for  the  speculative  and 
the  speculator.  Having  read  statements  that,  during  the  past 
few  years,  the  authorities  of  Damascus,  and  other  plague-rid- 
den cities  of  the  East,  have  resorted  to  the  practice  of  intro- 
ducing crude  petroleum  into  the  gutters  of  the  streets  to  disin- 
fect the  air,  and  as  a  preventive  of  disease,  which  practice  has 
been  attended  with  the  most  favorable  results,  I  throw  out  the 
suggestion,  but  without  advancing  any  theory  of  my  own, 
whether  the  prevailing  westerly  sea  breezes,  passing  over  this 
wide  expanse  of  sea-laden  petroleum,  may  not  take  up  from  it 
and  bear  along  with  them  to  the  places  whither  they  go,  some 
subtle  power  which  serves  as  a  disinfecting  agent,  and  which 
may  account  for  the  infrequency  of  some  of  the  diseases  re- 
ferred to,  and  possibly  for  the  superior  healthful  ness  of  the 
climate  of  Santa  Barbara." 

Whether  the  claim  of  superiority  for  Santa  Barbara  over 
any  other  place  in  California  be  justified  or  not,  all  must 
admit  that  it  has  great  advantages  of  climate  and  position.  It 
is  a  town  of  about  4,000  inhabitants,  has  a  beautiful  site,  fine 
gardens  and  orchards,  and  has  become  the  leading  health 
resort  of  the  New  World. 

§  96.  San  Diego. — San  Diego  ranks  next  in  public  favor  to 
Santa  Barbara,  and  has  a  similar  climate,  except  that  the  rain- 
fall is  thirty-three  per  cent,  less,  and  the  humidity  of  the 
atmosphere  greater.  Dr.  Beverly  Cole,  who  is  cited  by  the 
people  of  San  Diego  as  authority,  speaks  thus  of  its  advanta- 
ges : 

"  The  wind  blowing  steadily  from  one  quarter  insures  healthi- 
ness. Take  a  place  where  the  wind  blows  in  the  morning 


132  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORKEA. 

from  the  west,  and  in  the  afternoon  from  the  north  ;  to-day 
from  the  south,  and  to-morrow  from  the  northeast,  and  you 
will  see  that  the  people  inhabiting  that  place  are  seriously 
affected  by  the  sudden  and  abrupt  changes.  This  is  easily  ex- 
plained. The  sudden  changes  interrupt  the  action  of  the  skin, 
and  cause  the  poisonous  matter  that  should  be  eliminated 
therefrom  to  be  thrown  back  on  the  internal  organs,  thereby 
causing  disease.  The  great  difference  in  the  velocity  of  the 
wind  at  this  point  and  elsewhere  is  also  noticeable.  The  aver- 
a<Te  number  of  miles  traveled  during  the  eight  months'  obser- 
vation I  have  referred  to,  was  thirteen  miles  per  hour  at  2  p. 
M.  ;  during  the  rest  of  the  day  it  will  not  exceed  from  three  to 
five  miles  per  hour.  The  great  velocity  acquired  by  the  wind 
at  San  Francisco  and  other  places,  impairs  health  by  vaporizing 
the  moisture  of  the  skin  and  thereby  rendering  the  surface 
cold.  The  remarkable  lightness  of  the  wind  can  therefore  be 
set  down  as  a  cause  of  exemption  from  sudden  and  serious- 
colds,  that  often  grow  into  pulmonary  complaints.  The  hu- 
midity of  the  atmosphere  is  also  of  the  greatest  importance. 
There  is  a  disposition  to  rely  too  much  on  the  absence  of 
moisture.  There  was  moisture  in  the  air  of  San  Diego,  as  the 
observations  proved,  and  it  was  a  very  necessary  quality.  The 
application  of  an  ointment  to  a  sore  was  not  because  the  oint- 
ment contained  curative  powers,  but  simply  to  protect  it  from 
the  irritating  action  of  the  air.  This  shows  that  moisture,  and 
not  its  opposite,  is  necessary.  It  would  be  folly  in  a  man  with 
ulcerated  lungs  to  seek  the  rarified  air  of  a  high  mountain.  The 
action  of  the  oxygen  would  prove  positively  injurious,  because  it 
would  irritate  the  lungs,  which  require,  instead  of  extreme 
dryness,  exactly  the  reverse  condition  of  the  atmosphere — 
moisture." 

The  entire  coast  between  Santa  Barbara  and  San  Diego,  with 
an  average  width  of  twenty  miles,  and  an  area  of  three  thous- 
and square  miles,  will  probably  be  occupied  for  a  health 
resort.  Among  the  towns  along  the  shore  are  Ventura, 


SALUBRITY.  133 

Hueneme,  Santa  Monica,  San  Pedro,  Wilmington,  Anaheim 
Landing,  San  Juan  Capistrano,  San  Luis  Rey,  and  San  Die- 
guito.  Between  ten  and  thirty  miles  back  are  Santa  Paula, 
Triunfo,  Camula,  San  Fernando,  Los  Angeles,  San  Gabriel, 
Monte,  Nietos,  Anaheim,  Riverside,  Temascal,  Temecula, 
Pala,  and  Joya.  Still  further  back,  and  most  of  them  at  an 
elevation  of  1 ,000  feet  or  more,  are  San  Bernardino,  Cocumon- 
go,  Jurupa,  Weaver,  Warner,  and  San  Felipe. 

§  97.  Elamath  Valley.— Of  the  Klamath  Valley,  Dr.  T.  T. 
Cabanis  says  : 

"  Rheumatism,  croup,  bronchitis,  pneumonia,  and  pleurisy, 
are  almost  unknown,  and  during  a  residence  of  fourteen  years 
in  this  portion  of  the  State,  I  have  never  seen  but  two  cases  of 
tuberculous  consumption.  These  did  not  originate  here.  Ten 
cases  of  croup  would  cover  all  which  I  have  witnessed.  lean- 
not  now  recall  to  my  mind  more  than  ten  cases  of  pneumonia. 
When  it  is  considered  that  the  population  of  this  county, 
being  miners  and  farmers  who  are  greatly  exposed  to  bad 
weather,  and  have  to  endure  great  hardships,  it  is  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  so  few  cases  of  diseases  of  the  lungs  are  known 
here.  Though  much  is  due  to  the  climate,  there  is  one  thing 
which  exercises  a  remarkable  influence  on  this  subject,  and 
that  is,  that  the  people,  as  a  general  thing,  live  in  a  primitive 
manner.  They  live  in  houses  which  are  very  open,  and  they 
use  chimneys  in  the  place  of  stoves." 

There  are  a  few  localities  where  intermittent  fever  prevails 
during  the  Fall,  but  it  yields  very  readily  to  small  doses  of 
quinine — never  leaving  any  of  the  sequelae  behind  which  are 
found  following  that  form  of  disease  in  hot  climates.  Neural- 
gia is  frequently  seen,  but  it  often  depends  upon  derangement 
of  the  digestive  organs.  Were  people  to  closely  observe  the 
laws  of  health,  it  would  be  a  rare  sight  to  find  a  sick  man 
among  us.  The  diseases  which  are  the  most  prevalent,  are 
those  which  follow  errors  of  diet. 

§  98.  Earthquakes. — Earthquakes  belong,  on  scientific  con- 
siderations, in  the  chapter  in  geology;  but  practically  they 


134  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

come  within  the  domain  of  salubrity,  for  many  persons  in  the 
Eastern  States  object  to  California  as  a  place  of  residence,  be- 
cause of  the  danger  from  those  convulsions  of  the  globe. 
There  is  a  possibility  of  death  from  them,  but  the  possibility 
is  so  remote  that  it  does  not  disturb  the  enjoyment  of  life  here. 
In  twenty  years,  about  forty  deaths  have  been  recorded  in  the 
State,  and  not  one  of  these  occurred  in  a  strong  house.  The 
majority  of  the  victims  lived  in  walls  of  adobe,  or  dried  mud, 
ready  to  topple  over  at  a  slight  shock.  In  San  Francisco, 
several  thousand  brick  houses,  many  of  them  three,  and  some 
four  stories  high,  have  stood  for  fifteen  years,  or  more,  not  only 
without  coming  down,  but  without  showing  any  mark  of  in- 
jury, beyond  slight  cracks  in  the  plastering.  The  deaths  from 
earthquakes  have  been  about  two  annually,  or  at  the  rate  of 
one  in  a  quarter  of  a  million ;  while,  in  the  Eastern  States, 
lightning,  sunstroke,  and  hurricanes,  which  kill  nobody  here, 
have  each  slain  three  times  as  many  relatively. 

Most  of  the  earthquakes  of  California  are  confined  to  very 
small  districts.  Thus,  not  more  than  one  in  ten  of  those  felt 
in  San  Francisco  is  perceived  in  Sacramento.  Many  shocks 
are  slight,  and  observed  only  by  a  few  people.  The  question 
is  frequently  asked  in  San  Francisco,  "  Was  there  an  earth- 
quake last  night?"  Somebody  felt  a  slight  tremor  in  the 
house  ;  perhaps  it  was  caused  by  an  earthquake — perhaps  by  a 
heavy  wagon  passing  through  the  street.  Tourists  occasionally 
express  great  disappointment  because  a  shock  came,  and  was 
so  slight  that  they  did  not  feel  it,  either  because  they  were 
asleep,  or  were  walking.  Many  persons  in  the  street,  when 
the  shock  of  October  21st,  1868,  occurred,  did  not  feel  it,  and 
when  they  saw  the  people  rushing  out  of  the  houses,  wondered 
at  the  excitement. 

We  frequently  hear  San  Franciscans  say,  this  is  "  earthquake 
weather,"  when  it  is  sultry,  but  there  has  been  nothing  in  ex- 
perience to  justify  such  language.  No  peculiar  condition  of 
the  temperature  of  the  sky,  or  of  the  barometer,  has  uniform- 


SALUBRITY.  135 

ty»  or  generally,  preceded  the  shocks,  nor  is  there  any  rule 
by  which  we  can  predict  their  occurrence,  nor  have  we  any 
instrument  by  which  we  measure  precisely  their  duration, 
violence,  or  the  course  of  their  vibrations. 

§  99.  Their  Frequency. — Earthquakes  are  common  in  some 
parts  of  California,  and  especially  at  San  Francisco,  Los  An- 
geles, and  near  the  Tejon  Pass,  at  the  southern  junction  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast  Mountains.  They  are  rare  at  Sacramen- 
to, Marysville,  Vallejo,  and  Napa.  As  a  general  rule,  they  are 
less  frequent  and  less  severe  in  the  northern  than  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State.  The  vicinity  of  Humboldt  is  more  often  shak- 
en than  any  other  place  north  of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco. 
About  a  dozen  earthquakes  are  felt  in  a  year  at  different  places 
in  the  State ;  not  so  many  at  one  place.  Most  of  the  shocks 
are  so  slight  as  to  pass  unnoticed  by  a  great  majority  of  the 
people ;  and  there  are  persons  who  have  resided  six  or  eight  years 
in  San  Francisco,  and  many  who  have  resided  ten  years  in 
other  parts  of  the  State,  and  say  they  have  never  felt  an  earth- 
quake. No  strongly-built  house  has  been  injured,  by  an 
earthquake  in  California,  north  of  latitude  35°,  since  the  Amer- 
ican conquest.  Several  brick  walls  have  been  cracked  in  San 
Francisco,  but  they  were  weak  structures,  built  on  "  made 
ground,"  and  would,  perhaps,  have  cracked  by  settling,  of 
their  own  weight.  Large  four-story  houses  have  been  so  much 
shaken,  that  the  inmates  have  run  out  in  great  alarm ;  but,  on 
examination,  it  was  found  that  the  buildings  were  uninjured, 
even  in  the  slightest  perceptible  manner. 

On  one  such  occasion,  a  gentleman,  who  thought  his  life  in 
great  danger,  and  ran  to  save  it,  observed,  before  he  left  his 
room,  that  the  water  was  splashed  out  of  his  basin  by  the 
movement  of  the  house.  The  basin  was  of  earthen-ware, 
about  fifteen  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top,  six  inches  deep,  half 
full  of  water,  and  it  stood  on  an  ordinary  wash-stand.  He 
supposed  that,  with  another  such  a  shock  or  two,  the  building 
must  be  in  ruins ;  and  he  was  very  much  astonished  to  find 


136  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

that  there  was  not  the  slightest  crack  in  the  walls  or  plaster- 
ing. His  room  was  in  the  fourth  story  of  a  brick  hotel.  It 
seems  that  the  whole  building  had  moved  together. 

The  fear  of  earthquakes  prevents  the  erection  of  high  struc- 
tures for  show ;  and,  for  this  reason,  there  are  few  tall  steeples 
in  San  Francisco.  Several  churches  have  been  commenced  on 
such  a  plan  that  they  might  be  crowned  with  lofty  spires,  but 
it  was  thought  more  prudent  to  leave  them  with  low  towers. 
The  same  motive  induces  many  wealthy  families  to  reside  in 
wooden  houses,  which  are  considered  better  fitted  to  resist  the 
shocks  of  earthquakes.  These  wooden  houses,  it  must  be  kept 
in  mind,  are  not  "  framed  "  with  mortices  and  tenons,  as  large 
wooden  houses  are  usually  erected  in  the  Atlantic  States,  but 
are  "  Chicago  frames,"  held  together  with  nails.  This  style  of 
building,  though  introduced  solely  because  of  its  cheapness 
and  simplicity,  is  considered,  by  far,  the  most  secure  against 
earthquakes. 

Few  earthquakes  felt  at  San  Francisco  since  1846  have  been 
more  severe  than  one  which  visited  Buffalo,  New  York,  in 
1857,  as  described  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Art 
for  September,  1858. 

§  100.  List  of  Earthquakes.— -The  following  is  a  list  of  the 
most  notable  earthquakes  observed  in  California. 

On  the  llth  October,  1800,  six  severe  shocks  were  felt  at 
San  Juan  Bautista,  and  every  house  was  shattered  and  ren- 
dered uninhabitable.  The  same  earthquake  was  felt  with 
much  severity  at  San  Jose. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  1808,  twenty-one  shocks  were  felt  at 
San  Francisco,  and  the  few  houses  then  existing  were  seriously 
injured. 

In  September,  1812,  on  a  Sunday,  an  earthquake  threw  down 
the  Mission  Church  at  San  Juan  Capistrano,  in  latitude  33°  20', 
and  thirty  persons  were  killed.  The  church  at  Santa  Inez,  in 
Santa  Barbara  County,  was  thrown  down  on  the  same  day ; 
but  the  shock,  according  to  report,  was  an  hour  later  than  at 


SALUBRITY.  137 

San  Juan  Capistrano,  and  there  was  nobody  in  the  church 
when  it  fell.  At  the  same  time  the  sea  receded  a  long  distance 
from  the  ordinary  place  of  the  water's  edge,  on  the  beach  of 
Santa  Barbara ;  and  the  people  there,  knowing  that  it  would 
soon  rush  upon  the  shore,  fled  to  the  higher  ground,  and  by 
that  means  alone  saved  their  lives. 

The  old  Mission  Church  at  Santa  Clara  was  thrown  down 
by  an  earthquake  in  1818. 

On  the  15th  of  May,  1851,  a  severe  shock  was  felt  in  San 
Francisco.  Windows  were  broken  ;  merchandise  was  thrown 
down  from  shelves  in  stores ;  and  vessels  in  the  harbor  rolled 
heavily. 

A  severe  shock  of  an  earthquake  was  felt  at  Fort  Yuma  and 
vicinity  on  the  29th  of  November,  1852.  The  low  grounds 
near  the  Colorado  cracked  open  with  long,  wide  fissures,  from 
which  water,  sand,  and  mud,  spouted  up.  The  fissures  were 
in  some  places  so  large,  that  they  turned  the  river  from  its 
course  ;  and  the  change  was  so  sudden,  that  great  multitudes 
of  fish  were  left  to  die  in  the  mud.  At  the  same  time,  the 
mud-volcanoes  of  Lower  California,  distant  forty-five  miles 
south  west  ward  from  Fort  Yuma,  resumed  their  activity  ;  for, 
although  there  is  no  record  of  their  previous  action,  yet  they 
probably  existed  before.  A  pool  of  hot,  sulphurous  water  had 
been  observed  at  the  place  by  Americans  since  1849.  Imme- 
diately after  the  shock  of  1852,  the  officers  at  Fort  Yuma  saw 
a  great  body  of  steam  shoot  up  at  least  one  thousand  feet  in 
the  desert  to  the  southwest  ;  and  when,  soon  afterward,  some 
of  them  went  out  to  examine  into  the  cause  of  it,  they  found 
the  mud-volcanoes  on  the  site  of  the  old  pool,  throwing  up 
steam,  boiling  water,  and  mud,  very  much  like  the  salses  far- 
ther north. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  1855,  an  earthquake  cracked  the  walls 
of  twenty-six  houses  in  Los  Angeles ;  but  no  wall  was  thrown 
down,  nor  was  any  person  injured. 

The  earthquake  of  January  9th,  1857,  shook  the  earth  from 
Fort  Yuma  to  Sacramento,  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles, 


138  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

being  most  severe  at  Fort  Tejon,  about  half-way  between 
these  two  points.  Loud  noises,  either  rumbling  or  like  explo- 
sions, were  heard  to  accompany  the  shock  at  Tejon,  San  Ber- 
nardino, Visalia,  and  in  the  Mojave  Valley.  The  waters  of 
the  3Iokelumne  River  were  thrown  upon  the  banks  so  as  to 
almost  leave  the  bed  bare  in  one  place.  '  The  current  of  Kern 
River  was  turned  up-stream,  and  the  water  ran  four  feet  deep 
over  the  bank.  The  water  of  Tulare  Lake  was  thrown  upon  its 
shores ;  and  the  Los  Angeles  River  was  flung  out  of  its*  bed. 
In  Santa  Clara  Valley  the  artesian  wells  were  much  affected. 
Some  ceased  to  run,  and  others  had  an  increased  supply  of 
water.  Near  San  Fernando,  a  large  stream  of  water  was 
found  running  from  the  mountains,  where  there  was  no  water 
before.  In  San  Diego,  and  at  San  Fernando,  several  houses 
were  thrown  down ;  and  at  San  Buenaventura  the  roof  of  the 
Mission  Church  fell  in.  Several  new  springs  were  formed  near 
Santa  Barbara  by  the  shock.  In  the  San  Gabriel  Valley,  the 
earth  opened  in  a  gap  several  miles  long ;  and  in  one  place  the 
river  deserted  its  ancient  bed,  and  followed  this  new  opening. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Santa  Clara  River  there  were  large  cracks 
in  the  earth.  A  large  fissure  was  made  in  the  western  part  of 
the  town  of  San  Bernardino.  At  Fort  Tejon  the  shock  threw 
down  nearly  all  the  buildings,  snapped  off  large  trees  close  to 
the  ground,  and  overthrew  others,  tearing  them  up  by  the 
roots,  and  tore  the  earth  apart  in  a  fissure  twenty  feet  wide 
and  forty  miles  long,  the  sides  of  which  rent  then  came  to- 
gether with  so  much  violence  that  the  earth  was  forced  up  in  a 
ridge  ten  feet  wide  and  several  feet  high.  At  Reed's  Ranch, 
not  far  from  Fort  Tejon,  a  house  was  thrown  down,  and  a  wo- 
man in  it  killed. 

On  the  26th  of  November,  1858,  nearly  every  brick  build- 
ing in  San  Jose  was  injured  by  an  earthquake. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  18G1,  Amador  Valley,  in  Alameda 
County,  was  severely  shaken.  Adobe  houses  were  seriously 
injured,  chimneys  toppled  down,  furniture  was  flung  from  side 


SALUBRITY.  139 

to  side  of  the  houses  and  much  broken,  and  men  in  the  fields 
were  thrown  down. 

On  Sunday,  October  8th,  1865,  at  12.45  p.  M.,  a  severe  shock 
visited  the  coast  valleys,  from  San  Luis  Obispo  to  Hurnboldt 
Bay.  In  San  Francisco,  weak  brick  buildings  were  shattered, 
cornices  were  thrown  down,  and  several  persons  were  seriously 
injured  by  falling  bricks,  and  by  injuries  received  in  jumping 
out  of  windows. 

The  earthquake  which  destroyed  many  towns  and  killed 
many  people  in  Peru,  on  the  13th  of  August,  1868,  was  not 
felt  in  California,  but  its  tidal  waves  were  observed  here  the 
next  day.  The  sea  ebbed  and  flowed  in  a  remarkable  manner 
from  San  Francisco  to  San  Diego,  from  daylight  till  dark,  the 
tides  reaching  heights  not  observed  before,  but  doing  no  dam- 
age. 

The  severest  earthquake  observed  in  San  Francisco  since 
1846,  came  on  the  21st  of  October,  1868,  about  eight  A.  M. 
A  dozen  brick  buildings  on  made  ground  were  shattered  so  as 
to  be  untenantable,  the  cornices  of  two  dozen  were  thrown 
down,  many  walls  were  cracked,  much  window  glass  was 
broken,  and  five  persons  were  killed  by  falling  bricks,  and  as 
many  more  had  bones  broken  by  jumping  out  of  windows. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  1872,  the  southern  part  of  the  State 
was  shaken  up,  the  shock  being  most  severe  in  Owen  Valley, 
275  miles  southeast  of  San  Francisco,  and  beyond  the  Sierra 
Nevada.  Two  hundred  .buildings,  most  of  them  cheap  struct- 
ures of  adobes,  were  thrown  down,  and  thirty-five  persons 
were  killed  by  the  falling  of  the  walls  and  roofs.  Cracks 
opened  several  feet  wide,  and  then  came  together  with  so 
much  force  that  ridges  were  thrown  up.  Springs  disappeared 
in  some  places,  and  appeared  in  others.  The  level  of  Owen 
Lake  raised  four  feet,  or  the  ground  on  one  side  seemed  to 
have  sunk  as  much. 


140  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTEK    V. 

SCENERY. 

§  101.  Introductory. — California  has  much  beautiful  scenery. 
The  atmosphere  is  remarkably  clear,  giving  the  eye  a  wide 
range.  The  mountainous  character  of  the  State  not  only  pre- 
vents monotony  and  secures  a  rich  variety  of  landscapes,  but 
gives  them  extent  and  grandeur.  The  large  rivers,  the  high 
snow-peaks  and  ridges,  wide  bays,  forests  of  the  largest  and 
most  graceful  evergreens,  parks  of  majestic  oaks,  natural 
meadows,  covered  in  the  spring  with  brilliant  grasses  and  flow- 
ers, are  all  magnificent  in  their  kind.  The  low  lands  are 
mostly  bare  of  timber,  with  here  and  there  a  grove  of  oaks, 
and  lines  of  trees  and  bushes  along  the  water-courses.  The 
coast  valleys  are  very  beautiful ;  and,  in  the  course  of  ten  or 
fifteen  years,  when  ornamented  with  thorough  cultivation,  will 
be  as  pretty  as  any  places  in  the  world.  The  most  remarkable 
features  of  our  scenery  are  :  Yosemite,  the  Big  Tree  Groves, 
the  Geysers,  the  Petrified  Forest,  Mt.  Diablo,  Mt.  St.  Helena, 
Mt.  Tamalpais,  Mt.  Shasta,  the  Calif brntan  Alps,  Clear  Lake, 
and  Lake  Tahoe. 

§  102.  Yosemite. — Yosemite  Valley,  one  of  the  greatest  nat- 
ural wonders  of  the  world,  is  a  chasm  eight  miles  long  and  a 
mile  wide,  in  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  thirty 
miles  west  of  the  summit,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
east  of  San  Francisco,  in  a  direct  line.  The  bottom  of  the 
valley  is  4,060  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  its  general 
course  is  east  and  west.  The  sides  are  granite  walls,  rising 


SCENERY.  141 

steeply — in  many  places,  almost  vertically — to  a  height  varying 
from  1,200  to  4,600  feet.  The  Merced  River  runs  through  the 
valley,  escaping  at  the  lower  end  through  a  narrow  and  rugged 
canon. 

Among  the  attractions  of  Yosemite,  are  a  dozen  cliffs,  more 
than  3,000  feet  high,  eight  cataracts,  of  which  one  is  1,700 
feet  high,  and  five  dome-shaped  mountain  peaks.  No  such 
collection  can  be  found  elsewhere  within  the  same  area,  and 
they  are  accompanied  by  valley  scenery  of  great  beauty.  The 
general  judgment  of  travelers  has  decided  that  Yosemite  is 
more  worthy  of  a  visit,  for  grand  and  picturesque  scenery,  than 
any  other  place  known  to  them. 

§  103.  Opinions  of  Tourists. — Some  of  these  opinions  are 
worthy  of  record  here.  Prof.  J.  D.  Whitney  says  : 

"  The  peculiar  features  of  the  Yosemite  are  :  first,  the  near 
approach  to  vertically  of  its  walls ;  next,  their  great  height, 
not  only  absolutely,  but  as  compared  with  the  width  of  the 
valley  itself;  and  finally,  the  very  small  amount  of  debris,  or 
talus,  at  the  bottom  of  these  gigantic  cliffs.  These  are  the 
great  characteristics  of  the  valley  throughout  its  whole  length ; 
but,  besides  these,  there  are  many  other  striking  peculiarities 
and  features,  both  of  sublimity  and  beauty,  which  can  hardly 
be  surpassed,  if  equaled,  by  those  of  any  other  mountain 
scenery  in  the  world." 

Horace  Greeley  wrote  thus : 

"  Of  the  grand  sights  I  have  enjoyed — Rome  from  the 
dome  of  St.  Peter's — the  Alps  from  the  valley  of  Lake  Como 
— Mont  Blanc  and  her  glaciers  from  Chamouny — Niagara — 
and  the  Yosemite — I  judge  the  last-named  most  unique 
and  stupendous.  It  is  a  partially-wooded  gorge,  one  hundred 
to  three  hundred  rods  wide,  and  3,000  to  4,000  feet  deep,  be- 
tween almost  perpendicular  walls  of  gray  granite,  and  here 
and  there  a  dark  yellow  pine  rooted  in  a  crevice  of  either 
wall,  and  clinging  wTith  desperate  tenacity  to  its  dizzy  eleva- 
tion. The  isolation  of  the  Yosemite — the  absolute  wilder- 


142  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ness  of  its  sylvan  solitudes,  many  miles  from  human  settle- 
ment or  cultivation — its  cascade  2,000  feet  high,  though  the 
stream  which  makes  this  leap  has  worn  a  channel  in  the  hard 
bed-rock  to  a  depth  of  1,000  feet — renders  it  the  grandest 
marvel  that  ever  met  my  gaze." 

The  opinion  of  Starr  King  was  that — 

"  Nowhere  among  the  Alps,  in  no  pass  of  the  Andes,  and  in 
no  cafton  of  the  mighty  Oregon  range,  is  there  such  stupen- 
dous rock  scenery  as  the  traveler  now  lifts  his  eyes  to." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  Samuel  Bowles  : 

"  Indeed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  so  limited  space 
in  all  the  known  world  offers  such  majestic  and  impressive 
beauty.  Niagara,  alone,  divides  honors  with  it  in  America. 
Only  the  whole  of  Switzerland  can  surpass  it — no  one  scene 
in  all  the  Alps  can  match  this,  before  me  now,  in  the  things 
that  mark  the  memory  and  impress  all  the  senses  for  beauty 
and  for  sublimity." 

§  104.  The  Leading  Features. — The  tourists  who  enter  the 
valley  by  the  trails  that  lead  over  the  mountains,  north  and 
south  of  the  canon,  obtain  fine  views  just  before  commenc- 
ing the  descent.  The  chasm  is  seen  winding  away  amidst 
the  cliffs ;  a  cascade  is  in  sight,  and  numerous  mountain-peaks 
rise  in  various  directions.  At  the  bottom  of  the  dell  are  the 
meandering  river,  the  green  grass,  and  lofty  trees  diminished 
to  the  appearance  of  shrubs.  The  Bridal  Veil  fall,  seen  on  the 
right,  several  miles  distant,  is  a  mere  white  streak  on  the  face 
of  the  rock,  and  does  not  appear  grand  in  the  least,  but  it  is 
nine  hundred  and  forty  feet  high,  and  becomes  imposing  as 
the  traveler  approaches  it.  The  body  of  water  is  about  seventy 
feet  wide  on  the  first  of  June. 

Nearly  opposite  this  cascade,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  val- 
ley, and  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  distant,  but  apparently 
much  nearer  when  the  tourist  looks  up  at  it,  is  the  Capitan,  (or 
Captain)  a  rock  projecting  into  the  valley  and  rising  up  per- 
pendicularly from  the  level  green-sward  three  thousand 


SCENERY.  143 

three  hundred  feet.  It  has  two  faces,  which  meet  nearly  at  a 
right  angle,  one  facing  to  the  south,  and  the  other  to  the  west. 
It  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  grandest  features  of  the  Yosemite 
scenery.  The  Indian  name  is  Tutucanula. 

The  next  object  of  interest  as  we  ascend  the  valley,  is  the 
Three  Brothers,  or  Pomporapasus.  The  highest  of  these  reaches 
an  elevation  of  4,000  feet  above  the  valley,  and  according  to 
Clarence  King,  the  best  general  view  of  the  valley  can  be  ob- 
tained from  its  summit. 

A  mile  beyond  the  Bridal  Veil,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
valley,  we  come  to  the  Cathedral  Rocks,  which,  as  seen  from 
the  eastward,  suggest  the  architecture  of  the  medieval  cathe- 
drals. They  rise  to  a  height  of  3,000  feet,  and  near  them  are 
the  Cathedral  Spires,  each  about  700  feet  high  and  300  feet 
in  diameter.  They  do  not  look  so  large,  however,  to  the 
spectator,  who  looks  up  nearly  half  a  mile  from  the  valley  to 
their  base. 

Sentinel  Rock,  a  natural  obelisk,  about  1,000  feet  high  and 
300  feet  in  diameter  at  the  summit,  and  3,043  feet  above  the 
valley,  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  valley,  about  five  miles  from 
the  western  end.  It  stands  out  from  the  adjacent  cliff  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  be  one  of  the  most  striking  objects  in  the  land- 
scape from  many  different  points  of  view. 

Directly  opposite  to  Sentinel  Obelisk,  are  the  Yosemite  Falls, 
the  upper  one  1,700  feet  and  the  lower  400,  with  a  distance  of 
half  a  mile,  and  a  descent  of  626  feet  in  a  series  of  small  cas- 
cades, which  are  not  visible  from  the  valley  between  them. 
The  falls  are  made  by  Yosemite  Creek,  which  is  fed  by  the 
melting  snows  on  the  southern  slope  of  Mt.  Hoffman,  two  miles 
distant.  The  stream  is  usually  thirty  feet  wide  and  ten  feet 
deep,  with  a  speed  of  a  mile  an  hour,  about  the  middle  of 
June,  but  its  size  depends  entirely  on  the  stock  of  snow  and 
the  heat.  A  hot  day,  when  the  snow  is  abundant,  makes  a 
perceptible  difference  in  the  size  of  the  cascade.  The  best 
general  view  of  both  falls  is  obtained  from  the  south  bank  of 


144  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

the  Merced  River,  more  than  a  mile  from  the  upper  fall,  which 
from  that  distance  looks  like  a  ribbon  of  mist,  and  is  entirely 
inaudible.  Yosemite  Creek  dries  up  some  time  between  the 
first  of  July  and  the  last  of  August,  according  to  the  seasons. 

A  little  more  than  a  mile  eastward  from  the  Yosemite  Falls, 
is  a  vertical  wall  of  granite,  half  a  mile  long,  and  nearly  2,000 
feet  high,  from  which  some  scales  of  rock  have  fallen  down, 
leaving  arches  like  eyebrows,  several  hundred  yards  long,  pro- 
jecting sixty  or  seventy  feet  beyond  the  surface  of  the  wall 
beneath.  They  are  called  the  Royal  Arches. 

Adjoining  this  wall  on  the  east,  and  attached  to  it,  is  Wash- 
ington Column,  which,  as  seen  from  the  westward,  looks  like 
a  half  pillar. 

Half  a  mile  eastward  from  the  Washington  Column,  is 
Mirror  Lake,  a  shallow  body  of  water,  covering  an  area  of 
several  hundred  acres.  It  is  remarkable  on  account  of  the 
perfect  smoothness  of  its  surface,  at  certain  times — early  in  the 
morning,  for  instance — before  the  winds  have  commenced  to 
blow,  and  then  the  neighboring  cliffs  are  reflected  with  won- 
derful clearness  and  accuracy.  This  lake  is  an  enlargement  of 
Teuaya  Creek. 

The  Half  Dome,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  southeastward 
from  Mirror  Lake,  is  part  of  a  dome  which  was  cut  through 
vertically,  and  half  of  it  carried  away.  The  side  next  the  val- 
ley is  perpendicular  for  2,000  feet  from  the  summit,  which  is 
4,734  feet  high.  Professor  Whitney  claims  for  it,  "  the  first 
place  among  all  the  wonders  of  this  region." 

Opposite  to  the  Royal  Arches,  and  two  miles  east  of  the 
Sentinel  Obelisk,  the  Little  Yosemite  Valley  enters  the  main 
valley.  Its  stream  is  the  Merced  River,  which  there  flows 
down  through  a  rugged  and  narrow  canon.  On  this  stream,  a 
mile  after  leaving  the  main  valley,  we  come  to  the  Vernal 
Fall,  400  feet  high.  The  water  in  this  tumble  has  a  greenish 
color,  unlike  the  others,  which  are  broken  into  white  spray. 

A  mile  further  on  the  same  stream,  is  the  Nevada  Fall,  600 
feet  high.  It  is,  in  many  respects,  the  handsomest  and  grand- 


SCENERY.  145 

<est  of  all  the  cascades  in  the  Yosemite  region.  Between  the 
Vernal  and  Nevada  Falls,  the  river  descends  275  feet,  and  is 
broken  into  foam  for  a  large  part  of  its  distance. 

Three-quarters  of  a  mile  southwestward  from  the  Vernal 
Fall,  is  Toloolweack,  or,  as  Whitney  spells  it,  Illilouette  Fall, 
never  measured,  but  estimated  to  be  600  feet  high.  Tolool- 
weack Creek,  below  the  cascade,  runs  through  a  rugged  cas- 
cade, in  which  immense  rocks  lie  piled  upon  one  another,  with 
great  open  spaces  beneath  them. 

Half  a  mile  southeastward  from  Sentinel  Obelisk,  is  the 
Sentinel  Dome,  4,150  feet  high.  From  its  summit,  very  ex- 
tensive views  can  be  gained. 

Glacial  Point,  a  little  more  than  a  mile  eastward  from  Sen- 
tinel Obelisk,  commands  extensive  views. 

The  South  Dome,  or  Mount  Starr  King,  is  two  miles  south' 
eastward  from  the  Nevada  Fall,  and  is  the  most  regular  in 
shape  of  all  the  mountain  domes.  Its  summit  is  6,500  feet 
above  the  valley,  and  is  inaccessible. 

Immediately  north  of  the  Nevada  Fall,  rises  the  Cap  of 
Liberty,  or  Mount  Broderick,  to  a  height  of  4,600  feet  above 
the  valley. 

Several  miles  eastward  from  the  Half  Dome,  is  the  Cloud's 
Rest,  5,700  feet  above  the  valley. 

The  North  Dome,  3,568  feet  above  the  valley,  is  half  a  mile 
north  of  the  Washington  Column. 

§  105.  Cascades  of  Rockets. — It  is  impossible  to  convey,  by 
description,  a  clear  conception  of  the  grandeur,  the  variety, 
and  the  singular  character  of  the  Yosemite  scenery.  A  large 
number  of  excellent  photographs  show  many  of  the  beauties 
of  the  place  faithfully.  A  peculiar  feature  in  most  of  the  cas- 
cades is  not  caught  in  the  photographs — I  mean  the  rocket 
forms  of  the  water,  which,  as  the  spectator  looks  up,  seems  to 
shoot  down  or  out,  in  forms  like  a  succession  of  rockets,  each 
composed  of  a  head  of  white  water,  leaving  a  trail  of  snowy 
sparks  behind  it,  until  it  is  exhausted,  and  others  succeed  it.. 
10 


146  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

All  the  cacasdes,  save  the  Vernal,  are  thoroughly  white,  and 
rockety  at  the  top.  The  rockets  of  the  Upper  Yosemite  are 
distinctly  perceptible  from  the  Yosemite  Hotel,  a  mile  and  a 
half  away.  This  feature  impressed  me  very  strongly,  and  yet 
I  have  never  seen  a  recognition  of  it  in  any  of  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  valley,  or  pictures  of  the  falls. 

§  106.  Vegetation,  etc.— There  are  a  thousand  nooks  and 
corners,  and  woody  dells,  full  of  enchanting  picturesqueness. 
The  rocky  cliffs  take  all  manner  of  queer  forms,  resembling 
pyramids,  castles  and  domes,  chimneys  and  spires.  In  one 
place,  there  is  a  narrow  cleft,  one  hundred  feet  deep,  in  one  of 
the  rocks,  as  though  some  giant  had  commenced  to  split  off  part 
of  the  mountain,  and  had  left  his  work  unfinished. 

The  river,  as  it  meanders  through  the  valley,  is  a  great  ad- 
dition to  its  beauty  ;  and  its  waters,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
lakes,  are  clear  as  crystal  in  the  summer,  though  turbid  in  the 
spring.  Mountain  trout  are  found  in  all  these  streams. 

The  climate  of  the  valley  is  cool.  The  numerous  cascades 
agitate  the  air ;  and,  near  the  fall,  there  are  often  gusty  winds. 

There  is  much  difference  between  the  vegetation  and  tem- 
perature of  the  two  sides  of  the  valley ;  the  northern  side,where 
the  sunshine  is  felt  throughout  the  day,  being  much  warmer 
than  the  shadows  of  the  southern  cliffs.  Shrubs  and  flowers 
are  in  the  full  glory  of  foliage,  and  flower  along  the  northern 
wall  in  May  and  June,  while  the  same  species  are  still  bare 
or  budding  a  mile  to  the  southward ;  but  the  more  delicate 
annual  shrubs  are  usually  more  healthy  on  the  southern  than 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  stream,  because  those  in  the  warmer 
spots  are  stimulated  to  come  out  so  early  as  to  be  badly 
nipped  by  the  frosts,  which  prevail  here  all  through  the  spring, 
and  into  the  summer. 

In  ordinary  winters,  fire  feet  of  snow  lies  in  the  valley,  and 
the  cascades  are  surrounded,  at  the  base,  by  hills  of  frozen 
spray. 

§  107.    Formation  of  the  Valley.— There  are  three  theories 


SCENERY.  147 

to  explain  the  formation  of  the  valley.  Professor  J.  D,  Whit- 
ney thinks  that  the  bottom  "sank  down  to  an  unknown  depth, 
owing  to  its  support  being  withdrawn  from  underneath  during 
some  of  those  convulsive  movements  which  must  have  attended 
the  upheaval  of  so  extensive  and  elevated  a  chain."  That  is 
the  subsidence  theory.  The  glacial  theory,  that  the  glaciers 
coming  down  the  mountain  side  scooped  out  this  immense 
chasm,  is  advocated  by  John  Muir,  a  geologist  who  has 
spent  much  time  in  the  Yosemite  region.  Nobody  advocates 
the  theory  of  erosion.  Ordinary  water  currents  could  not 
have  worn  away  walls  so  vertical  and  crooked  as  these,  nor 
could  glaciers  have  done  so,  even  if  there  had  been  an  outlet. 
I  believe  the  fissure  theory,  but  will  attempt  no  argument  for 
it  here.  The  rock  split  apart,  and  it  still  preserves  the  shape 
that  would  follow  a  great  crack  in  the  solid  crust  of  the  earth. 
The  subsidence  theory  would  do  in  the  vicinity  of  a  volcano, 
and  in  a  different  rock  formation  ;  but  not  in  granite,  high  up 
on  a  ridge  that  has  never  been  volcanic  in  its  character. 

§  108.  Hetchhetchy. —  A  chasm  similar  to  Yosemite  is 
Hetchhetchy,  twelve  miles  further  north,  on  the  Tuolumne 
River.  This  valley  is  three  miles  long,  half  a  mile  wide,  and 
fenced  in  by  granite  cliffs  from  1,500  to  2,500  feet  high.  There 
are  several  fine  cascades,  including  that  of  Hetchhetchy  Creek, 
1 ,700  feet  high.  The  scenery  bears  a  strong  general  resemblance 
to  that  of  Yosemite,  but  is  on  a  smaller  scale.  Above  Hetch- 
hetchy Valley,  the  canon  reaches  thirty  miles  into  the  moun- 
tains, with  walls  nearly  vertical  for  a  large  part  of  the  dis- 
tance, and  much  remarkable  scenery,  including  many  high 
cascades. 

On  the  south  side  of  Mt.  Whitney,  King's  River  forms  a 
wonderful  teaiion,  more  than  a  mile  deep,  with  a  level  bottom, 
in  one  place  half  a  mile  wide  and  ten  miles  long. 

.§  109.  Biy  Tree  Groves.  —  The  mammoth  sequoias  are 
prominent  features  in  the  scenery  of  California.  A  tree  three 
hundred  feet  high  and  thirty  feet  thick  in  the  trunk,  is  a  great 


148  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

curiosity,  and  here  we  have  numerous  groves  of  them.  Cal- 
averas  County  has  two ;  Tuolumne,  two  ;  Mariposa,  three ;  and 
Fresno  and  Tulare,  many. 

The  Calaveras  Big  Tree  Grove,  containing  one  hundred  and 
fifty  trees,  ninety  of  them  more  than  fifteen  feet  in  diameter, 
was  tfre  first  discovered,  is  nearest  the  center  of  the  State,  is 
more  conveniently  accessible  than  the  others,  has  better  ac- 
commodations for  tourists,  and  attracts  the  greatest  number  of 
visitors.  There  are  in  this  grove  ten  trees  thirty  feet  in  diam- 
eter, and  eighty-two  between  fifteen  and  thirty,  making  ninety- 
two  over  fifteen  feet  through.  One  of  the  trees,  which  is 
down,  must  have  been  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high  and 
forty  feet  in  diameter.  The  "  Horseback  ride,"  one  of  the  no- 
tabilities of  the  place,  is  a  hollow  trunk,  through  which  a  man 
can  ride  upright  on  horseback,  seventy -five  feet. 

In  1854,  one  of  the  largest  trees,  ninety-two  feet  in  circum-' 
ference  and  three  hundred  feet  high,  was  cut  down.  Five 
men  worked  twenty-two  days  in  cutting  through  it  with  large 
augers.  On  the  stump,  which  has  been  smoothed  off,  there 
have  been  dancing-parties  and  theatrical  performances  ;  and  for 
a  time  a  newspaper,  called  the  Big  Tree  Bulletin,  was  printed 
there.  An  examination  of  its  rings  showed  that  it  was  about 
2,000  years  old. 

At  the  same  time  that  this  tree  was  cut  down,  another  was 
stripped  of  its  bark  for  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
feet  from  the  ground.  This  tree  continued  green  and  flour- 
ishing two  and  a  half  years  after  being  thus  denuded,  and  did 
not  begin  to  show  signs  of  dying  until  a  very  hard  frost  came 
in  the  winter  of  1856-57.  Seven  years  passed  before  it  died. 

In  many  of  the  trees  in  all  the  groves,  hollows  are  burned 
at  the  foot,  and  some  of  them  have  been  burned  so  as  to  stand 
on  three  legs.  One  of  these,  in  the  Calaveras  grove,  called 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  has  an  open  space  under  it  of  more 
than  a  dozen  feet  square.  The  largest  trees  seem  to  end  ab- 
ruptly at  the  top,  having  been  broken  off  by  the  snow,  which 


SCENERY.  149 

often  falls  to  a  great  depth  so  high  up  on  the  Sierra  Nevada. 
The  trees,  in  some  places,  grow  very  near  together  ;  in  others, 
they  are  comparatively  far  apart ;  and  occasionally  two  or 
three  will  be  seen  which  are  united  at  the  ground,  although 
they  may  have  been  twenty  or  thirty  feet  apart  when  they 
sprouted.  The  Tuolumne  Big  Tree  Grove,  on  the  wagon  road 
from  Big  Oak  Flat  to  Yosemite,  has  two  dozen  Sierra  sequoias, 
most  of  them  ten  feet  or  less  in  diameter,  but  one  of  them 
about  twenty-five. '  It  is  one  of  the  smallest  and  least  impos- 
ing. 

A  wagon  road 'projected  to  run  from  Coulterville,  passes 
through  the  Merced  Grove,  a  few  miles  west  of  Yosemite  Val- 
ley. 

The  State  Grove,  in  Mariposa  County,  is  fifteen  miles  south 
of  Yosemite,  and  has  been  given  by  Congress  to  California 
for  a  public  pleasure  resort.  It  has  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  trees,  including  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  over  fifteen 
feet  in  diameter,  eighteen  over  twenty-five  feet,  and  three  over 
thirty-three  feet.  ' 

§  110.  Mountain  Peaks. — Mount  Diablo,  or  as  the  Spaniards 
and  many  others  call  it,  Monte  Diablo,  thirty  miles  eastward 
from  San  Francisco,  rising  to  a  height  of  3,856  feet,  an  iso- 
lated cone  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  and  populous  country,  offers 
one  of  the  most  extensive  and  interesting  views  in  the  world. 
It  overlooks  the  San  Francisco, 'San  Pablo,  and  Suisun  Bays; 
the  Santa  Clara,  San  Ramon,  San  Joaquin,  Sacramento,  Suisun, 
Napa,  and  Sonoma  Valleys,  and  commands  a  view  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  for  a  length  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from 
Mt.  Lassen  to  Mt.  Whitney.  The  Sierra  rises  like  an  amphi- 
theatre, and  Diablo  is  the  point  from  which  it  can  be  seen  to 
the  best  advantage.  Though  not  so  high  as  a  score  of  other 
peaks  in  the  Coast  Range,  nor  half  so  high  as  a  hundred  in  the 
Sierra,  it  is  familiar  to,  and  is  seen  every  clear  day  by  more 
people  than  any  other  mountain  in  California.  It  commands  a 
view  of  an  area  of  40,000  square  miles  of  land — as  much  as  the 


150  KESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

entire  State  of  New  York.  J.  D.  Whitney,  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  State  Geological  Survey  Report,  says :  "  It  is  believed 
there  are  few,  if  any,  points  on  the  earth's  surface  from  which  so 
extensive  an  area  can  be  seen  as  from  Monte  Diablo."  San 
Francisco,  Sacramento,  Stockton,  Vallejo,  Antioch,  Redwood 
City,  the  Farallones,  and  the  Marysville  Buttes,  are  all  dis- 
tinguishable. 

A  ride  of  sixteen  miles  from  Martinez,  half  of  it  on  horseback, 
or  of  twenty-six  miles  from  Oakland,  including  ten  on  horse- 
back, enables  a  person  to  reach  the  summit.  Accommoda- 
tions have  been  provided  on  the  mountain  for  visitors. 

.Mount  Shasta  at  the  north,  and  Mount  San  bernardino  at 
the  south,  occupy  positions  of  relative  prominence  somewhat 
like  that  of  Diablo  in  the  middle  of  the  State,  towering  far 
above  the  surrounding  country.  Shasta  is  clothed  with  snow 
for  a  distance  of  a  vertical  mile  from  the  summit  most  of  the 
year,  and  is  a  sublime  feature  of  the  landscape ;  it  is  visible  in 
every  direction  to  a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles. 

The  State  Geological  Survey  discovered,  in  the  summer  of 
1864,  that  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  between  the  latitudes  of  35° 
and  38°,  an  area  of  300  square  miles  or  more  has  an  elevation 
exceeding  8,000  feet,  with  100  peaks  that  rise  above  10,000  feet, 
and  one  that  reaches  14,900  feet,  the  highest  point  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  and  500  feet  higher  than  Mount  Shasta.  The  lat- 
ter makes  a  more  imposing  appearance,  because  it  rises  in 
solitary  grandeur  7,000  feet  beyond  the  tops  of  any  mountain 
within  fifty  miles  of  it,  whereas,  Mount  Whitney  is  surrounded 
by  other  peaks  of  nearly  equal  elevation,  and  is  not  distinguish- 
able or,  at  least,  is  not  a  striking  landmark,  from  any  large 
town  or  main  line  of  travel  in  the  State.  Switzerland  has,  for 
hundreds  of  years,  had  the  fame  of  possessing  the  greatest  area 
of  land  elevated  nearly  to  the  level  of  perpetual  snow,  and  the 
largest  number  of  great  peaks  within  the  limit  of  high  civili- 
zation ;  but  is  now  surpassed  by  this  Alpine  region  of  California, 
which  reaches  from  Kern  River  to  Castle  Peak,  a  distance  of 
two  hundred  miles. 


SCENERY.  151 

The  follo^ng  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  prominent  peaks  on 
the  Sierra  Nevada : 

PEAKS.                                          ELEVATION.  LATITUDE. 

deg.  min. 

Mount  Whitney 14,900  36  32 

Mount  Shasta 14,442  41  25 

Mount  Tyndall 14,386  36  40 

Mount  Dana 13,227  37  52 

Mount  Lyell 13,217  37  44 

Mount  Brewer 13,886  36  42 

Mount   Silliman 1 1,623  36  38 

Mount  Lassen 10,577  4°  30 

Mount  Gardner 36  46 

Mount  Kearsarge 36  46 

Mount  King 36  48 

Mount  Humphreys 37  15 

Mount  Goddard 37  05 

Red  Slate  Peak 37  32 

Cathedral  Peak 37  50 

Mount  Hoffman 37  50 

Castle  Peak.. ; 38  04 

Downieville  Butte 39  35 

Kaweah  Peak 36  31 

The  peaks  of  which  the  elevations  are  not  given,  are  sup- 
posed, except  the  Downieville  Butte,  to  be  at  least  10,000  feet 
high. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  peaks  in  the  Coast  Range  : 

PEAKS.                                           ELEVATION.  LATITUDE. 

deg.  min. 

North  Yolo  Bailey 40  30 

South  Yolo  Bailey 40  10 

Mount  St.  John 39  25 

Mount  Ripley 7,500  39  08 

Mount  St.  Helena 4,343  38  40 

Mount  Diablo 3,856  37  50 

Mount  Tamalpais 2,604  37  53 

Mount  Hamilton 4,44O  37  20 

Loma  Prieta 4,040  37  08 

Gabilan  Peak 36  50 

Mount  Chupadero 36  35 

Mount  San  Bernardino 1 1,600  34  09 


152  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Tamalpais,  or  Mount  Tamalpais,  ten  miles  north  of  San 
Francisco,  has  an  elevation  of  2,604  feet.  The  summit  can  be 
reached  on  horseback,  and  commands  a  fine  view  of  San  Fran- 
cisco and  San  Pablo  Bays,  with  many  of  their  tributary  val- 
leys, and  of  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevada. 

Mount  St.  Helena,  ten  miles,  by  the  trail,  from  Calistoga, 
has  an  elevation  of  4,343  feet,  and  commands  an  extensive 
view,  but  far  inferior  to  that  from  Diablo,  the  adjacent  country 
being  less  fertile,  higher,  and  mountainous. 

Loma  Prieta,  Mount  San  Bruno,  Mount  Hamilton,  the 
Mission  Peak,  (in  the  county  of  San  Francisco)  Castle  Peak, 
Grizzly  Hill,  near  Grass  Valley,  Mount  Gabilan,  and  Uncle 
Sam  Mountain,  near  Clear  Lake,  all  look  down  on  interesting 
scenes. 

§111.  Son  Francisco  and  Vicinity. — In  many  respects  the 
appearance  of  San  Francisco  is  decidedly  unprepossessing  to 
the  strange  visitor.  It  stands  at  the  end  of  a  peninsula,  much 
of  which  is  bare,  rocky  hill  and  loose  sand.  We  must  go 
twelve  miles  before  we  reach  any  large  body  of  tillable  soil. 
As  seen  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel  entering  the  harbor,  between 
July  and  November,  the  place  looks  like  desolation  and  cheer- 
lessness.  The  streets,  the  houses,  and  the  hills  are  brown,  and 
only  here  and  there,  at  long  intervals,  do  we  get  a  glimpse  of 
a  little  garden. 

But  after  looking  about  a  week  or  two,  the  stranger  gets 
better  impressions.  The  lack  of  shade  trees  in  the  streets  and 
gardens,  and  even  in  the  public  squares,  is  explained  by  the 
coolness  of  the  summer  climate,  and  the  general  desire  to  get 
all  possible  sunshine  on  average  July  days.  There  is  pleasure 
in  thinking  of  a  city  to  which,  and  not  from  which,  we  wish 
to  flee  in  the  dog-days.  And  then,  as  we  go  to  the  more  fash- 
ionable residence  streets,  we  find  numerous  elegant  gardens, 
luxuriant  in  a  vegetation  that  could  not  endure  the  winter  of 
Washington  and  St.  Louis.  The  delicate  and  beautiful  Euro- 
pean  roses,  (the  Pauline,  the  Laflfay,  the  Agrippina,  the  Mai- 


SCENERY.  153 

maison,  the  Perfection,  the  Saffrano,  and  a  hundred  others) 
the  geraniums,  the  fuchsias,  the  floripondios,  the  heliotropes, 
the  verbenas,  the  laurustinus,  and  the  Australian  acacias, 
give  a  beauty  to  our  gardens  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the 
larger  Eastern  American  cities.  The  external  architecture 
of  our  dwellings,  too,  is  more  graceful,  the  wooden  material 
allowing  a  liberal  use  of  ornament  at  little  expense.  Although 
the  buildings  on  our  main  business  streets  are  not  so  high  as 
at  the  East,  still,  in  general  appearance,  Montgomery  and 
Kearny  will  compare  favorably  with  the  most  fashionable 
streets  of  the  Eastern  cities  generally,  and  can  surpass  any- 
thing outside  of  New  York  and  Chicago. 

But  to  see  the  most  attractive  features  of  San  Francisco, 
we  must  look  not  at  the  city  herself,  but  at  her  surroundings 
and  suburbs.  In  these  she  is  unsurpassed.  She  stands  upon 
the  shore  of  a  magnificent  bay,  which  attracted  the  admira- 
tion and  the  praise  of  every  navigator  who  visited  it,  even 
before  it  had  attained  any  commercial  importance.  The  bay 
is  skirted  by  fertile  plains  several  miles  wide,  beyond  which  rise 
mountain  ridges  from  two  to  three  thousand  feet  high.  A 
spur  runs  through  the  city,  within  ten  minutes'  walk  from  the 
Merchants'  Exchange,  and  has  various  peaks  three  hundred 
feet  high  ;  and  also  within  the  city  limits,  but  three  miles  from 
the  City  Hall,  are  the  Mission  Peaks,  with  an  elevation  of 
eight  hundred  feet.  Eight  miles  further  south  is  Mount  San 
Bruno,  twelve  hundred  feet  high ;  fifteen  miles  to  the  north- 
ward, beyond  the  Golden  Gate,  is  Tamalpais,  twenty-^ix  hun- 
dred feet  high  ;  thirty-five  miles  to  the  eastward  Mount  Diablo, 
three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  feet  high,  and 
fifty-five  miles  to  the  southward  Mount  Hamilton,  six  hun- 
dred feet  higher  yet.  These  are  the  corner  ornaments  to  the 
mountain  framing  of  our  landscape.  Diablo  and  Tainalpais 
are  very  beautiful  mountains,  and  the  former  is  as.  high  as 
Vesuvius. 

The  bay  has  a  fine  contour,  and  romantic  shores.  Goat  Is- 
land, Angel  Island,  Seal  Rock,  and  Alcatraz,add  much  to  the 


154  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

landscape.  The  steep  sides  of  the  last,  and  its  position,  just 
inside  the  entrance,  and  near  the  middle  of  the  channel,  fit  it 
admirably  for  the  impregnable  fortress  of  a  great  harbor.  Its 
casements  and  barbette  batteries  suggest  defiance,  even  to  those 
who  have  no  technical  knowledge  to  assist  them  in  under- 
standing the  full  military  value  of  the  place.  The  Golden 
Gate  is  the  impressive  name  of  the  strait,  a  mile  wide,  guard- 
ed on  each  side  by  high  rocky  bluffs,  leading  into  the  chain  of 
bays,  with  an  area  of  350  square  miles.  It  is  appropriate,  too, 
for  through  it  have  passed  $1,000,000,000  to  stimulate  com- 
merce and  industry  and  to  enrich  the  world.  . 

But  six  miles  from  our  anchorage  lies  the  Pacific,  the  vast 
ocean  which  covers  more  than  a  third  of  the  surface  of  the 
globe,  and  is  the  open  road  of  our  commerce  with  four  conti- 
nents. Its  name,  too,  is  appropriate  here,  for  it  is  never  vexed 
by  hurricanes  or  cyclones  on  this  Coast.  Yet  its  surf  is 
always  grand,  and  the  beach  extending  southward  five  miles 
from  Point  Lobos  is  unsurpassed  in  beauty,  and  the  road  to  it 
past  (after  going  through)  Lone  Mountain  Cemetery  and  back 
by  the  Ocean  House  over  the  mountain,  with  a  chance  to  look 
down  on  the  city  and  bay,  completes  a  round  of  scenery  which 
no  other  city  can  surpass.  The  new  park  has  a  fine  drive,  and 
Woodward's  Garden  offers  to  visitors  attractions  not  to  be 
equaled  in  some  important  respects  by  the  costly  and  exten- 
sive park  of  the  Eastern  metropolis. 

Oakland,  a  suburb  of  San  Francisco,  a  city  of  homes  for 
our  business  men,  is  embowered  in  a  grove  of  indigenous  ever- 
green oaks,  and  abounds  with  spacious  gardens  filled  with  the 
most  luxuriant,  varied,  and  handsome  vegetation  that  our  cli- 
mate will  tolerate.  We  have  seen  many  towns,  renowned  for 
beauty,  but  we  have  yet  to  see  one  that  deserves  to  be  placed 
alongside  of  Oakland.  At  Berkley,  a  few  miles  distant,  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  landscape  attractive  without 
help  from  art,  and  promising  to  be  enchanting,  after  the  land- 
scape gardener  and  the  architect  shall  have  placed  a  few  years  > 


SCENERY.  155 

| 

of  labor  on  it.  In  Hayes  Canon  and  Moraga  Valley,  east  of 
Oakland,  and  at  Saucelito,  we  find  romantic  nooks  as  wild  in 
vegetation  as  if  there  were  no  city  within  a  hundred  miles. 
The  variety  and  fullness  of  natural  scenery,  which  people  else- 
where must  travel  for  weeks  to  see,  we  have  here  collected 
within  a  narrow  space,  which  the  land,  the  sea,  and  the  sky 
have  conspired  to  bless  with  peculiar  favor. 

§  112.  Geysers. — The  Geysers,  in  the  northern  part  of  So- 
noma County,  are  among  the  wonders  of  the  State.  They  are 
in  a  deep  and  steep  ravine,  amid  a  district  filled  with  the 
marks  of  violent  volcanic  action.  Down  the  western  slope  of 
the  mountains  which  separate  Clear  Lake  from  the  basin  of 
Russian  River,  runs  a  stream  called  the  Pluton  River ;  and 
near  this,  at  an  elevation  of  seventeen  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  are  the  Geysers,  a  multitude  of  springs,  boiling  with  heat, 
and  emitting  large  quantities  of  steam,  with  a  hissing,  roaring, 
and  sputtering  noise.  Near  them  are  many  tepid  and  cold 
springs,  which  add  to  the  wonderful  character  of  the  place. 
Hot  and  cold  springs,  quiet  and  boiling  springs,  are  found 
within  a  few  feet  of  each  other.  And  then  the  waters  differ 
as  much  in  taste,  odor,  and  color,  as  in  temperature  and  action. 
One  is  almost  as  fetid  at  times  as  rotten  eggs ;  another  has 
black  water,  resembling  ink ;  a  third  is  called  the  "  Eye-water 
Spring,"  and  its  waters  are  reputed  to  be  excellent  for  curing 
sore  eyes  and  cutaneous  diseases ;  and  the  waters  of  others  are 
strongly  purgative.  The  ground  in  the  ravine  is  in  places 
deeply  covered  with  the  minerals  deposited  by  the  springs; 
among  these,  sulphur,  sulphate  of  magnesia,  (Epsom  salts) 
sulphate  of  aluminum,  (alum)  and  various  salts  of  iron,  pre- 
dominate. The  chief  feature  of  the  Geysers  is  called  "  The 
Steampipe,"  an  orifice  about  eight  inches  in  diameter,  in  the 
hill-side,  from  which  rises  a  large  volume  of  steam  to  a  height 
varying  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet.  The  steam  roars  con- 
tinuously, sometimes  bursting  out  in  puffs  louder  than  that 
made  by  an  engine's  escape-pipe.  It  deposits  flowers  of  sul- 


156  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

* 

phur  on  the  objects  which  come  within  its  range.  "The 
Devil's  Punch-Bowl,"  called  also  "The  Witches'  Cauldron,"  is 
in  a  large  hole,  six  feet  across,  in  the  hill-side.  The  liquid  in 
the  bowl  is  black  and  thick,  and  is  always  in  commotion  with 
the  heat,  and  the  vapor  from  it  deposits  black  flowers  of  sul- 
phur on  the  rocks  around.  The  sides  of  the  canon  are  bare, 
and  smoking  with  heat.  The  Geysers  are  a  favorite  place  of 
resort  for  pleasure-seekers,  being  conveniently  accessible,  part  of 
the  route  from  San  Francisco  going  through  either  Napa, 
Petaluma,  or  Russian  Valleys  by  rail,  and  the  remainder  by 
stage  over  a  romantic  wagon  road. 

§  113.  Petrified  Forest. — Five  miles  west  of  Calistoga,  in 
the  ridge  which  separates  Napa  from  Santa  Rosa,  are  a  score 
of  petrified  tree- trunks,  lying  down,  and  these  have  been  called 
the  "  Petrified  Forest,"  a  name  which  might  mislead  persons 
to  imagine  that  the  number  of  petrified  trees  was  large,  and 
that  they  were  standing  erect.  They  are  scattered  over  an 
area  five  hundred  yards  squares  and  others  are  found  at  inter- 
vals, on  the  ridge,  down  nearly  to  the  bay,  a  distance  of  twen- 
ty-five miles.  The  largest  is  five  feet  in  diameter  and  about  fif- 
teen feet  long,  with  nothing  to  indicate  what  became  of  the 
remainder  of  the  tree.  No  branches  have  been  found,  nor 
more  than  twenty  feet  of  the  trunk  of  any  one  tree.  The 
smallest  trunk  is  over  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  most  of  them 
over  two  feet,  but  many  fragments  are  found,  broken  from 
trunks  of  unknown  size.  The  petrifaction  is  complete.  The 
woody  fiber  has  entirely  disappeared,  and  has  been  replaced  by 
a  grayish  stone  that  seems  to  be  mainly  carbonate  of  lime,  in 
which  the  grain  of  the  timber  is  distinctly  preserved.  The  pet- 
rifactions split  readily  with  the  grain,  and  the  numerous  splin- 
ters lying  about  resemble  wood  rather  than  stone,  until  they 
are  picked  up. 

All  the  stone  trunks  are  broken  across  transversely,  some  of 
them  in  pieces  not  more  than  a  foot  long,  on  an  average,  with 
a  squarenesss  of  fracture  suggesting  that  after  petrifaction 


SCENERY.  157 

r 

they  must  have  been  thrown  down.  No  other  explanation 
will  account  for  the  fact  thdt  all  have  numerous  transverse 
breaks,  cutting  squarely  across  the  trunks,  with  no  appearance 
of  having  been  crushed.  No  timber  could  possibly  be  broken 
in  such  a  manner  :  the  breaks  must  have  occurred  in  the  stony 
condition. 

The  rock  of  the  ridge  is  a  volcanic  sandstone,  and  was 
formed  by  the  solidification  of  wet  sand  thrown  up  by  a  vol- 
cano, or  washed  down  from  its  sides.  Such  a  flood  of  volcanic 
sand  filled  up  an  ancient  forest,  to  a  depth  of  twenty  feet  or 
more ;  the  trees  rotted  away ;  those  parts  above  the  surface 
of  the  sand  disappeared ;  those  parts  below  the  surface  were 
replaced  by  stone  deposited  in  water  which  trickled  down ; 
this  petrifaction  was  harder  than  the  surrounding  sandstone, 
which  was  washed  away  ;  the  petrified  trunks,  left  without  sup- 
port, fell  down  and  were  broken  into  numerous  fragments,  and 
there  they  continue  to  lie,  and  to  tell  of  wonderful  events  that 
happened  thousands  of  years  ago. 

The  trees  were  redwood,  of  the  species  which  still  grows  in 
the  same  vicinity. 

Another  petrified  forest,  similar  to  that  near  Calistoga,  is 
found  in  the  valley  of  Cedar  Creek,  in  the  northeastern  corner 
of  the  State. 

§  114.  Waterfalls. — Besides  the  cascades  of  the  Yosemite 
and  Hetchhetchy  valleys,  there  are  a  number  of  others  in  the 
State.  There  is  a  cataract,  about  five  hundred  feet  high,  on 
Fall  River,  which  empties  into  the  Middle  Fork  of  Feather 
River  ;  one  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  where  the  South 
Fork  of  the  American  River  slides  down  over  a  convex  rock, 
looking  like  a  streak  of  snow  when  seen  from  a  distance ;  one 
of  sixty  feet,  in  the  San  Antonio  River,  in  Calaveras  County  ; 
another  of  seventy-five,  on  the  same  stream,  which  falls  four- 
teen hundred  feet  within  a  mile ;  and  one  of  three  hundred 
feet,  called  the  "  Riffle-box  Falls,"  in  Deer  Creek,  Nevada 
County. 


158  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

§  115.  Natural  Bridges.— California  has  five  natural 
bridges.  The  largest  of  these  is  bn  a  small  creek  emptying 
into  the  Hay  Fork  of  the  Trinity  River,  where  a  ledge  of  rock 
three  hundred  feet  wide  crosses  the  valley.  Under  this  rock 
runs  the  creek,  through  an  arch  twenty  feet  high  by  eighty  feet 
across.  The  rock  above  the  arch  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
deep.  On  Lost  River,  in  Siskiyou  County,  there  are  two  nat- 
ural bridges,  about  thirty  feet  apart.  The  rock  is  a  conglom- 
erate sandstone,  and  each  is  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  wide,  and 
the  distance  across  the  stream  is  about  eighty  feet.  One  of 
these  bridges  is  used  regularly  by  travelers.  On  Coyote  Creek, 
in  Tuolumne  County,  ten  miles  northward  from  Sonora,  are 
two  natural  bridges,  half  a  mile  apart.  The  upper  bridge  is 
two  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  long  with  the  course  of  the 
water,  and  thirty- six  feet  high,  with  the  rock  thirty  feet  deep 
over  the  water.  The  lower  bridge  is  similar  in  size  and  height 
to  the  other. 

§  116.  Caves. — There  are  a  number  of  caves  in  California. 
Of  these,  the  most  noted  are  the  Alabaster  Cave,  seven  miles 
from  Auburn,  in  Placer  County ;  the  Bower  Cave,  twelve  miles 
from  Coulterville,  in  Mariposa  County  ;  the  Cave  of  Skulls,  in 
Calaveras  County  ;  and  the  Santa  Cruz  Cave,  two  miles  from 
the  town  of  Santa  Cruz.  The  Alabaster  Cave  has  two  cham- 
bers :  one  about  one  hundred  feet  long  by  twenty -five  wide ; 
the  other  two  hundred  feet  long  by  one  hundred  wide.  It 
contains  a  large  number  of  brilliant  stalactites  and  stalagmites. 
The  Bower  Cave  has  a  chamber  one  hundred  feet  long  by 
ninety  wide ;  it  is  reached  by  an  entrance  seventy  feet  long, 
and  in  one  place  only  four  feet  wide.  The  Santa  Cruz  Cave 
has  no  beauty  to  render  it  attractive.  The  Cave  of  Skulls  is 
remarkable  for  having  contained,  when  first  discovered,  a  num- 
ber of  human  skulls  and  bones,  all  covered  with  layers  of 
carbonate  or  sulphate  of  lime,  from  the  thickness  of  a  leaf  to  an 
inch.  These  bones  are  now  in  the  cabinet  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institute.  At  Cave  City,  and  seven  miles  from  Murphy's,  in 


SCENERY.  159 

Calaveras  County,  is  a  cave  in  which  a  Know-Nothing  lodge 
was  accustomed  to  meet  in  1855.  In  the  bluff  bank  of  the 
Middle  Fork  of  the  Cosuinnes  River,  eighty  feet  above  the 
stream,  is  a  cavern  called  Limestone  Cave,  with  many  intri- 
cate passages  and  some  fine  stalactites. 

§117.  Mirage. — Among  the  most  remarkable  scenes  wit- 
nessed in  California  are  the  illusions  of  the  mirage,  seen  fre- 
quently in  the  deserts  of  the  Colorado  and  the  Great  Basin, 
and  sometimes  as  far  north  as  San  Francisco.  "  All  the  phe- 
nomena of  mirage,"  says  Professor  W.  P.  Blake,  "are  exhib- 
ited on  a  grand  scale  upon  the  Colorado  Desert.  Mountain 
ranges,  so  far  distant  as  to  be  below  the  horizon,  are  made  to 
rise  into  view  in  distorted  and  changing  outlines.  Inverted 
images  of  smaller  objects,  and  apparent  lakes  of  clear  water, 
are  often  seen,  and  invite  the  traveler  to  turn  aside  for  refresh- 
ment. The  first  exhibition  of  a  mirage  that  was  seen  [by 
Blake's  party]  was  from  the  margin  of  the  plain  at  Carriso 
Creek,  looking  toward  the  Gila,  about  ninety  miles  distant. 
It  was  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  eastern  sky  had  that 
golden  hue  which  precedes  the  rising  sun.  Tall  blue  columns, 
and  the  spires  of  churches,  and  overhanging  precipices,  seemed 
to  stand  upon  the  verge  of  the  plain.  Their  outlines  were 
changing  gradually,  and,  as  the  sun  rose  higher,  they  were 
slowly  dissipated.  After  reaching  Fort  Yuma,  and  witnessing 
the  strangely  precipitous  and  pinnacled  outline  of  the  moun- 
tains beyond,  it  was  at  once  apparent  that  the  mirage  con- 
sisted of  their  distorted  images.  When  we  were  upon  the 
northern  part  of  the  desert,  the  peak  of  Signal  Mountain  was 
often  distorted  and  raised  above  the  horizon.  The  points  of  dis- 
tant ranges  also  seemed  at  times  to  be  elevated  above  the 
surface,  precisely  as  the  headlands  of  a  coast  sometimes  ap- 
pear to  rise  above  the  water  at  sea." 

One  morning  in  the  last  week  of  March,  1871,  the  people  of 
Santa  Cruz  looking  southward  towards  Monterey,  which  is 
twenty-two  miles  distant,  and  usually  invisible,  saw  the  town 


160  .     RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

in  the  air,  with  its  houses  and  shipping.  The  picture  was 
clearly  distinguishable  for  several  hours,  but  repeatedly 
changed  with  the  clouds,  the  objects  reflected  being  often 
magnified  and  distorted.  Beautiful  mirage  pictures  have  on 
rare  occasions  been  seen  at  San  Francisco. 

§  118.  Mud -Volcanoes. — In  the  Colorado  Desert,  about  lati- 
tude 33°  25',  and  longitude  115°  45',  are  some  remarkable 
mud-volcanoes.  They  are  in  that  part  of  the  desert  below  the 
level  of  the  sea ;  and  if  the  water  of  the  ocean  were  turned 
in  upon  that  low  land,  they  would  be  lost  to  sight.  As  it  is 
now,  they  are  very  rarely  visited,  because  they  are  in  a  region 
so  desolate,  that  an  excursion  to  them  is  accompanied  by  seri- 
ous hardships.  The  volcanoes  cover  a  space  of  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  long,  and  an  eighth  of  a  mile  wide ;  this  area  is  of  soft 
mud,  through  which  hot  water  and  steam  are  constantly  es- 
caping. The  noise  can  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  ten  miles, 
and  the  steam  is  visible  at  a  greater  distance.  The  quantity 
of  water  thrown  up  is  small ;  that  of  the  steam,  great.  The 
vapor  rises  steadily  in  some  places,  with  a  hissing  noise ;  in 
other  places,  it  bursts  out  with  the  noise  and  action  of  an  ex- 
plosion, throwing  the  mud  a  hundred  feet  into  the  air,  with  a 
loud  report. 

'  There  are  places  where  the  mud  is  in  constant  movement, 
and  rises  in  great  bubbles,  and  bursts,  as  if  boiling  with  in- 
tense heat ;  while  in  other  places,  regular  cones,  apparently 
hardened  into  permanency,  and  with  shapes  varying  from  low 
hillocks  to  sharp  points,  have  been  formed.  There  are  boil- 
ing springs,  which  throw  up  their  water  twenty  or  thirty  feet ; 
and  there  are  large  basins,  one  hundred  feet  across,  and  five  or 
six  feet  below  the  general  surface,  in  which  a  bluish  paste  is 
continually  boiling.  Some  of  the  springs  are  surrounded  by 
incrustations  and  arborescent  concretions  of  carbonate  of 
lime ;  others  are  encircled  by  deposits  of  sulphur.  The  air 
blown  from  the  salses  is  fetid  with  sulphur.  It  is  very  danger- 
ous to  approach  the  springs  and  cauldrons,  because  the  whole 


SCENERY.  161 

earth  is  soft  in  the  vicinity  of  them,  and  frequently  the  crust 
is  broken  and  thrown  up  with  great  force,  to  establish  new 
springs,  steam-vents,  and  mud-cauldrons ;  and  the  boiling  slime 
or  water  thrown  up  on  these  occasions  would  suffice  to  kill  a 
man  in  a  few  seconds. 

In  the  northeastern  part  of  Plumas  County  are  many  hot 
springs — perhaps  numbering  one  thousand — covering  an  area 
of  ten  acres.  They  roar  and  hiss  so  as  to  be  heard  at  a  dis- 
tance of  a  mile,  and  their  steam  can  be  seen  from  a  greater 
distance,  The  whole  place  smells  strongly  of  sulphur,  which 
mineral,  as  well  as  alum  and  various  earthy  salts,  abounds  in 
the  soil  about  the  springs. 

In  four  or  five  places  in  California,  the  earth  is  constantly 
hot,  and  sulphurous  gases  and  vapors  are  constantly  escaping. 
There  is  such  a  solfatara  about  fifteen  miles  eastward  from 
Santa  Barbara ;  another  near  Owen's  Lake ;  another  near  the 
Geysers,  in  Sonoma ;  and  another  near  the  hot  springs,  in  Plu- 
inas  County. 

11 


162  BESOtfRCES   OF   CALIFOKNM, 


CHAPTER  VI. 
COMMERCE. 

§  119-  Situation. — The  commercial  situation  of  California 
is  excellent.  It  is  in  the  southern  half  of  the  north  temperate 
zone,  in  the  midst  of  the  western  coast  of  a  large  and  rich  con- 
tinent, at  one  end  of  the  middle  Pacific  Railroad,  on  all  the 
lines  of  circumterraneous  steam  communication  now  in  opera- 
tion, and  on  the  shortest  and  most  comfortable  line  that  can 
be  built  to  connect  the  main  centers  of  wealth,  population, 
industry,  and  intelligence  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  North  America, 
It  possesses  the  best  site  for  a  commercial  center  between 
Cape  Flattery  and  Cape  Horn,  and  it  has  the  greatest  accu- 
mulation of  capital,  the  largest  body  of  people  familiar  with 
the  most  profitable  branches  of  trade  and  industry,  and  the 
best  system  of  rail  communication. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  California,  and  the  greater  part  of 
its  commerce  with  the  Atlantic  States,  is  conducted  by  San 
Francisco.  The  Golden  Gate  on  the  sea  side,  and  the  Donner 
Pass  on  the  land  side,  are  the  doors  through  which  the  trade 
and  travel  entering  and  leaving  the  State  must  go.  It  might 
be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  find  another  country  so  exten- 
sive, possessing  only  one  importing  point  on  a  sea  coast  more 
than  a  thousand  miles  long,  and  only  one  notable  importing 
road  on  an  inland  boundary  fifteen  hundred  miles  long.  Ore- 
gon and  Arizona  send  travelers,  but  no  freight ;  and  Humboldt 
and  Santa  Cruz  sometimes  send  away  lumber,  but  (except  a 
cargo  or  two  of  nitrate  of  potash  received  at  the  latter  point) 
have  received  no  import*. 


163 

I  120.  Volume  of  Business. — The  commerce  of  California 
is  exceptionally  active.  No  country  of  Europe,  and  no  other 
State  in  the  New  World,  consumes  so  large  a  proportion  of 
foreign  merchandise,  or  exports  so  much,  relatively^  of  its 
agricultural  and  mineral  products  to  foreign  lands.  The  sum 
of  the  annual  exports  ranges  from  $65,000,000  to  $75,000,000, 
and  the  cost  of  imports  is  the  same.  The  value  of  the  im- 
ports from  foreign  countries  is  -about  $20,000,000,  and  that 
from  other  portions  of  the  United  States,  about  $30,000,000 ; 
the  freights  and  charges  on  imports  are  $5,000,000,  the  duties 
exacted  by  the  Federal  Government,  $8,000,000  ;  and  a  con- 
siderable sum  is  paid  as  interest  on  borrowed  capital,  and  as 
expenses  of  Californians  traveling  abroad. 

Among  our  exports  are  $20,000,000  of  treasure,  the  produce 
of  our  States  and  Territories;  and  the  total  annual  product  of 
California  for  exportation,  is  from  $45,000,000  to  $55,000,000, 
or  about  $85  to  the  person  ;  whereas  $20  to  the  person  is  a 
large  sum  in  other  States. 

The  Pacific  Slope  of  the  United  States  has  1,292,000  square 
miles,  a  present  population  of  831,059,  and  a  coast  line  of 
12,000  miles,  whereas  the  coast  line  of  our  country  on  the 
Atlantic  side,  is  4,000  miles,  A  large  part  of  the  area  of  the 
Pacific  side  of  our  country  is  composed  of  desert,  barren 
mountain,  and  Arctic  snow  fields,  but  there  is  a  fertile  area 
of  not  less  than  300,000  square  miles,  with  a  capacity  to 
maintain  a  population  of  50,000,000  people. 

San  Francisco,  in  the  amount  of  its  foreign  importations,  is 
the  fourth  city  in  the  Union,  being  inferior  to  New  York, 
Boston,  and  Baltimore,  and  superior  to  Philadelphia  and  New 
Orleans. 

Before  1868,  San  Francisco  supplied  all  the  exports  of  the 
State,  save  a  few  cargoes  of  lumber  from  Humboldt  Bay  and 
Santa  Cruz  ;  about  two-fifths  of  the  wheat  is  now  loaded  at 
Oakland  and  Vallejo. 

Among  the  exports  of  1873,  were  wheat  and  flour,  twen- 
ty-one millions ;  wool,  seven  and  three-quarters ;  wines,  one  ; 


164  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

ores,  one  and  three-quarters  ;  leather,  two-thirds  ;  salmon,  a 
quarter ;  quicksilver,  four-fifths ;  lumber,  a  third  of  a  mil- 
lion ;  and  hides,  bones,  horns,  brooms,  abelone  shells,  barley, 
fruit,  mustard  seeds,  and  furs,  in  smaller  amounts. 

Among  our  imports  we  pay  four  millions  annually  for  sugar  ; 
one  and  a  half  for  coffee  ;  four  for  other  provisions  ;  making 
nine  and  a  half  millions  for  provisions  alone.  Then  we  have 
three  for  coal ;  one  for  nails ;  and  as  much  for  iron,  in  pigs  and 
bars ;  tobacco  and  kerosene  each  demands  one  ;  clothing  re- 
quires twelve  ;  miscellaneous  dry  goods,  six  ;  hardware,  four  ; 
machinery  and  agricultural  implements,  three ;  boots,  one 
and  a  half;  drugs,  one;  jewelry,  two  ;  tableware,  two  ;  and 
several  millions  must  be  allowed  for  sundries. 

§  121.  Shipping. — The  vessels  which  entered  the  harbor 
of  San  Francisco,  from  the  sea,  in  1872,  numbered  3,670,  and 
measured  1,237,000  tons,  an  average  of  330  tons  each.  The 
coasters,  (vessels  from  American  ports  on  the  Pacific)  meas- 
ured 634,000  tons ;  the  vessels  from  foreign  ports,  505,000  tons ; 
and  those  from  American  ports  on  the  Atlantic,  96,000.  In 
1860,  the  coasters  measured  205,000  tons,  and  the  foreign 
ships,  199,000  ;  showing  an  increase  of  two  hundred  per  cent. 
in  the  former,  and  150  in  the  latter,  in  thirteen  years  ;  while 
the  American  Atlantic  ships,  in  1860,  measured  129,000,  show- 
ing a  decrease  of  30  per  cent.  The  coasters  numbered  2,972, 
and  averaged  about  200  tons  each.  The  American  ports  on 
the  Atlantic  sent  us  86  ships,  including  70  from  New  York, 
7  from  Boston,  and  five  from  Baltimore.  Europe  sent  us  88, 
including  72  from  Great  Britain,  and  8  each  from  Germany 
and  France.  Australia  sent  us  77  ;  China  and  Japan,  80  ;  the 
East  Indies,  38  ;  South  America,  122 ;  and  Polynesia,  68. 
The  American  ports  on  the  Atlantic  do  not  occupy  a  very 
prominent  place  in  our  seaward  commerce. 

§  122.  Currency. — The  currency  of  all  branches  of  com- 
merce and  industry,  and  of  the  State  and  County  Treasuries 
in  California,  is  gold.  Treasury  notes  are  used  for  paying  in- 


COMMERCE.  165 

ternal  revenue  taxes,  and  for  a  few  other  purposes,  but  are 
treated  as  merchandise,  and  are  quoted  in  the  market  reports 
at  a  discount.  Some  over-wise  people  have  told  us  that  the 
State  has  been  greatly  injured  by  adherence  to  a  gold  curren- 
cy, and  their  chief  reason  is  that  men  are  unwilling  to  move 
from  the  Eastern  States  to  California  if  they  must  give  $10,- 
000  of  their  money  for  $9,000  or  $8,500  of  ours.  This  would 
imply  that  California  should  sacrifice  ten  or  fifteen  per  cent,  of 
her  property  as  a  condition  of  exchanging  a  perfectly  safe  and 
stable  currency  for  unsafe  and  unstable  greenbacks.  Asser- 
tions have  been  made  that  the  gold  standard  has  been  retained 
here  because  of  the  influence  of  a  small  ring  of  capitalists  in 
San  Francisco,  but  such  a  statement  needs  no  refutation  among 
men  familiar  with  business.  Every  contract  is  made  inde- 
pendently, and  the  currency  is  usually  gold,  because  every- 
body finds  it  preferable. 

The  coin  consists  chiefly  of  the  double-eagle,  or  piece  of 
$20.  The  coinage  of  the  San  Francisco  Mint,  in  1872,  was 
$16,380,000,  including  $15,600,000  in  double-eagles;  $300,- 
000  in  eagles,  half-eagles,  and  quarter-eagles  ;  &29,000  in  half- 
dollars,  $26,000  in  quarter-dollars,  $19,000  in  dimes,  and  $3,- 
600  in  half-dimes.  These  figures  may  be  accepted  as  fair  an- 
nual averages.  The  silver  coinage  is  only  two  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  sum,  and  the  amount  of  half  dollars,  the  largest 
silver  coin  in  common  use,  is  more  than  three  times  as  great 
as  that  of  all  the  smaller  coins  together  ;  while  the  average  of 
double-eagles  is  fifty  times  greater  than  that  of  all  the  smaller 
gold  pieces.  For  payments  of  twenty  dollars,  or  more,  the 
double-eagles  are  generally  used.  No  copper  or  nickel  money 
is  coined  or  current,  and  half-dimes,  the  smallest  coins,  are 
not  very  common. 

§  123.  Wealth  of  the  State.— According  to  the  State  as- 
sessment, which  purports  to  be  made  at  the  cash  value,  the  tax- 
able property  in  the  State  amounted,  in  1873,  to  $527,000,000, 
including  $212,000,000  in  San  Francisco,  $25,000,000  in  Ala- 


16(5  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

meda,  $27,000,000  in  Santa  Clara,  $20,000,000  in  Saertmientov 
$18,000,000  in  San  Joaquin,  $16,000,000  in  Sonoma,  and 
$11,000,000  in  Monterey;  $9,000,000  each  in  Los  Angeles, 
Solano,  and  £an  Mateo,  $8,000,000  in  Mann  and  Yolo,  and 
smaller  sums  in  the  other  counties. 

Alameda,  San  Mateo,  and  Marin  owe  their  valuations,  to  a 
great  extent,  to  their  position  as  present  or  prospective  sub- 
urbs of  San  Francisco  5  and  the  city  with  its  suburbs  con- 
tains more  than  half  the  taxable  property  of  the  State.  But  in 
addition  to  their  possessions  in  and  near  the  city,  the  inhabitants 
and  business  men  of  San  Francisco  own  large  tracts  of  land, 
many  mines,  saw-mills,  irrigating  and  mining  ditches,  gas  and 
water  works,  elsewhere,  and  the  total  value  of  their  property 
is  not  less  than  $400,000,000, 

The  banking  capital  of  the  State  in  1873  amounted  to  about 
$80,000,000,  including  $45,000,000  in  savings  banks  in  San 
Francisco,  and  $9,000,000  in  savings  banks  in  interior  towns. 
The  savings  banks  make  long  loans — mostly  of  a  year  or  more, 
secured  by  mortgage  at  rates  varying  from  nine  to  twelve  per 
cent,  per  annum.  The  insurance  companies  also  loan  their 
money  on  mortgage.  The  commercial  banks  obtain  from  one 
to  one  and  a  half  per  cent,  per  month,  for  one  or  two  months, 
on  promissory  notes  secured  by  endorsement,  or  by  the  pledge 
of  collateral  securities,  among  which  mining  stocks  occupy  a 
prominent  place. 

The  dividends  paid  in  San  Francisco  by  incorporated  com- 
panies in  1873,  amounted  to  $20,000,000,  including  $13,300,000 
by  mining  companies,  $3,700,000  by  savings  banks,  $1,000,000 
by  commercial  banks,  $480,000  by  the  water  company, 
$410,000  by  the  gas  company,  and  $227,000  by  insurance 
companies. 

§  124.  Mining  Stocks. — The  stock  market  in  San  Francis- 
co is  very  active,  and  owes  much  of  its  profit  to  the  silver 
mines  of  Nevada.  The  sales  of  mining  shares,  in  one  board 
of  brokers,  amounted  to  $146,000,000  in  1873,  $189,000,000 


COMMERCE,  167 

in  1672,  $129,000,000  in  1871,  $51,000,000  in  1870,  and  $69,- 
000,000  in  1869. 

The  gross  market  value  of  shares  in  the  mines  of  the  Corn- 
stock  Lode  has  ranged  from  $15,000,000  to  $80,000,000,  and 
the  change  from  the  lower  to  the  upper  limit  has  sometimes 
occurred  within  a  few  months,  making  an  intense  excitement 
in  business.  Thus,  in  the  beginning  of  January,  1872,  the 
shares  of  the  thirteen  leading  mines  of  the  Comstock  Lode  were 
selling  at  rates  indicating  that  the  entire  value  of  these  mines 
was  $17,000,000,  and  five  months  later  they  were  selling  at 
the  rate  of  $81,000,000.  The  shares  of  the  Crown  Point 
mine  were  sold  in  May  at  $1,450  each,  and  as  there  are  12,000 
shares,  the  whole  mine  was  then  valued  at  $17,000,000.  The 
Belcher,  at  the  same  time,  was  held  at  $16,000,000.  Before 
the  end  of  summer,  the  $80,000,000  had  fallen  back  to  $30,- 
000,000,  indicating  a  loss  of  $50,000,000  to  the  people  who 
did  not  sell  when  the  prices  were  at  the  highest.  This  was 
the  most  remarkable  stock  excitement  in  the  history  of  San 
Francisco;  but  a  fall  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  in  the  mar- 
ket value  of  a  mine,  within  a  week,  is  common.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  different  mines  are  on  the  stock  list,  including  fifty 
on  the  Comstock  Lode,  sixty  more  in  other  parts  of  Nevada, 
eighteen  in  California,  eight  in  Idaho,  and  two  in  Utah.  The 
gross  amount  of  the  sales  is  seldom  less  than  $1,000,000,  and 
once  exceeded  $10,000,000  in  a  week.  It  is  evident,  that  with 
such  sales  and  such  fluctuations,  many  fortunes  must  be  lost 
and  won  every  year. 

The  fluctuations  become  credible  when  we  consider  the 
amounts  of  dividends  and  assessments  paid  within  twelve  years 
in  a  city  that  has  now  180,000  inhabitants.  The  Bullion  Com- 
pany has  paid  $1,700,000  of  assessments,  the  Overman  $900,- 
000,  the  Consolidated  Virginia  $200,000,  the  Segregated 
Belcher  $200 ,000,  and  eight  others  $658,000,  making  $3,600,- 
000  in  all  by  twelve  companies,  not  one  of  which  has  ever 
paid  a  dividend.  The  Yellow  Jacket  has  paid  $1,500,000, 


168  KESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  Ophir  $1,200,000,  the  Hale  &  Norcross  and  the  Gould  & 
Curry  each  $800,000,  and  the  Crown  Point  and  Belcher  each 
$600,000  of  assessments ;  but  all  these  have  paid  more  divi- 
dends than  assessments — in  some  cases  several  millions  more. 
The  total  amount  of  assessments  paid  by  the  Comstock  min- 
ing companies  has  been  $14,000,000,  and  dividends  $35,000,- 
000,  leaving  a  nice  surplus  on  the  profit  side. 

Mining  is  an  uncertain  business,  and  mines,  when  managed 
in  the  most  competent  manner,  rapidly  change  in  value.  The 
opening,  or  the  unexpected  exhaustion  of  a  rich  body  of  ore, 
may  give  or  take  away  great  value  within  a  few  weeks.  But 
the  stock  market  in  San  Francisco  is  not  governed,  though  it 
is  influenced,  by  the  condition  of  the  mines.  The  prices  are 
determined,  to  a  great  extent,  by  folly  and  dishonesty.  Out 
of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  mines  on  the  stock  list,  not  ten 
are  now  paying  dividends,  and  four-fifths,  though  worked  for 
years,  have  never  paid  a  dividend.  Yet  any  one  of  these  un- 
profitable mines  may  strike  a  rich  body  of  ore  ;  and  so  long  as 
they  continue  to  work,  the  officers  circulate  encouraging  re- 
ports, and  the  stock  fluctuates  in  market  price.  If  a  body  of 
ore  be  struck,  the  fact  of  the  discovery  may  be  concealed,  or 
its  nature  misrepresented,  for  the  purpose  of  defrauding  the 
shareholders,  by  inducing  them  to  buy  or  sell.  The  superin- 
tendent holds  his  place  at  the  mercy  of  the  trustees,  and  they 
often  require  him  to  inform  them  privately  of  any  change  in 
the  mine  several  days  before  it  is  announced  publicly,  so 
they  can  make  something.  If  he  has  a  rich  body  of  ore,  he 
manages  to  pay  very  large  dividends  for  several  months,  and 
asserts  that  he  can  continue  them  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
the  stock  goes  up  ;  or  he  keeps  his  men  out  of  the  good  ore, 
and  sends  poor  stuff  to  mill,  so  that  an  assessment  is  levied, 
and  then  the  stock  goes  down.  In  either  case,  the  outsiders 
are  swindled.  These  are  only  a  few  of  the  numerous  tricks 
common  among  the  mining  sharps,  and  he  who  deals  with 
them,  does  so  with  greater  risk  and  with  less  chance  of  fail- 
dealing  than  when  he  sits  down  at  the  faro  table. 


COMMERCE.  169 

§  125.  Large  Estates. — The  following  is  a  list  of  the 
landed  estates  of  more  than  100,000  acres  each,  (some  of  them 
are  scattered  tracts)  in  California,  viz  :  Miller  &  Lux,  228,000 
acres ;  the  Philadelphia  and  California  Petroleum  Company, 
160.000  ;  Mary  E.  Beale,  173,000  ;  Charles  McLaughlin,  141,- 
000;  I.  Friedlander,  125,000;  Los  Angeles  Land  Company, 
101,000. 

In  San  Diego  County,  John  Forster  has  88,000  acres  ;  and 
Miguel  Pedroreno,  47,000  ;  in  Los  Angeles,  the  L.  A.  Land 
Company,  101,000;  Irvine,  Flint  &  Co.,  77,000;  Pioche  & 
Bayerque,  69,000  ;  E.  de  Celis,  56,000  ;  Beale  &  Baker,  53,000 ; 
James  Lick,  51,000.  In  San  Bernardino,  the  San  Jacinto  Tin 
Mining  Company,  48,000 ;  Alfred  Robinson,  trustee,  42,000. 
In  Santa  Barbara,  the  Philadelphia  and  Petroleum  Land  Com- 
pany, 131,000;  Dibblee  &  Hollister,  97,000;  A.  P.  Moore, 
63,000  ;  Santa  Cruz  Island  Company,  53,000  ;  H.  &  W.  Pierce, 
53,000  ;  J.  W.  Moore,  48,000  ;  L.  T.  Barton,  47,000  ;  E.  Con- 
way,  42,000  ;  Hollister  &  Cooper,  41 ,000.  In  San  Luis  Obispo, 
P.  W.  Murphy,  54,000  ;  and  F.  Steele,  44,000.  In  Monterey, 
the  estate  of  Arques,  71,000  ;  J.  D.  Carr,  47,000  ;  and  Miller 
&  Lux,  41,000.  ,Jn  Alameda,  Charles  McLaughlin,  60,000. 
In  San  Joaquin,  the  Tide  Land  Reclamation  Company,  77,000 ; 
Charles  McLaughlin,  54,000.  In  Kern,  Mary  E.  Beale,  173,- 
000  ;  Chapman,  Jansen  &  Roebing,  75,000  ;  A.  Weill,  48,000  ; 
and  J.  H.  Redington ,  45,000,  In  Fresno,  the  San  Joaquin  Val- 
ley Land  Association,  79,000  ;  I.  Friedlander,  62,000  ;  E. 
Applegarth,  49,000;  J.  W.  Pedree,  47,000  ;  W.  C.  Ralston, 
44,000  ;  and  E.  St.  John  &  Co.,  42,000.  In  Merced,  Miller  & 
Lux,  166,000  ;  C.  Paige,  60,000;  and  J.  W.Mitchell, 42, 000. 
In  Mariposa,  the  Mariposa  Land  and  Mining  Company,  44,000. 
In  Sacramento,  Lloyd  Tevis,  43,000  ;  in  Colusa,  the  California 
and  Oregon  Railroad  Company,  61,000  ;  and  in  Mendocino, 
Throckmorton  &  McKinstry,  83,000.  The  number  of  these 
estates  over  40,000  acres  is  forty-four,  in  the  State,  so  far  as 
reported  ;  the  number  between  30,000  and  40,000  acres  is 


170  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

twenty-three  ;  those  between  20,000  and  30,000,  are  fifty-five  ; 
those  between  10,000  and  20,000  acres  are  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight ;  and  those  between  5,000  and  10,000  acres,  two 
hundred  and  thirty-eight.  The  entire  number  of  these  estates 
of  more  than  5,000  acres  each,  is  four  hundred  and  fifty-three. 
Most  of  them  are  held  under  Mexican  grants,  and  probably 
one-third  or  one-fourth  under  purchase  from  the  American 
government.  Several  railroad  companies,  which  own  large 
tracts,  do  not  appear  in  the  list. 

§  126.  Railroads. — The  following  is  a  list  of  the  railroads 
completed  in  California. 

The  (original)  Central  Pacific,  from  Sacramento  to  Ogden, 
748  miles. 

The  original  Western  Pacific,  now  consolidated  with  the 
Central  Pacific,  from  Oakland  to  Sacramento,  135  miles ;  and 
from  Niles'  to  San  Jose,  18  miles. 

The  original  Oakland  City  Railroad,  now  consolidated  with 
the  Central  Pacific,  from  Oakland  to  Brooklyn,  5  miles.  • 

The  original  San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad,  now  consolidated 
with  the  Central  Pacific,  from  Lathrop  to  Goshen,  146  miles. 

The  original  California  and  Oregon  Railroad,  now  consoli- 
dated with  the  Central  Pacific,  from  Junction  (or  Roseville) 
to  Redding,  152  miles. 

The  original  Alameda  Valley  Railroad,  now  consolidated 
with  the  Central  Pacific,  from  Alameda  to  Hay  ward,  11 
miles. 

The  main  line  of  the  Central  Pacific,  from  Oakland  to 
Ogden,  is  878  miles,  and  there  are  337  miles  of  branches ;  and 
including  three  miles  of  ferry  between  Oakland  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  five  miles  between  Alameda  and  San  Francisco,  the 
total  length  of  the  routes  of  the  Central  Pacific  is  1,226  miles. 
On  the  main  line  of  the  Central  Pacific,  from  Oakland  to  the 
State  line,  there  are  275  miles  in  California. 

The  California  Pacific  Road,  from  Vallejo  to  Sacramento, 
60  miles. 


COMMERCE.  171 

The  Napa  branch  of  the  California  Pacific  Railroad,  from 
Napa  Junction  to  Calistoga,  35  miles. 

The  Marysville  branch  of  the  California  Pacific  Railroad, 
from  Davisville  to  Marysville,  44  miles  ;  but  of  this  distance, 
20  miles  is  not  now  in  running  order. 

The  Los  Angeles  and  Wilmington  Railroad  is  21  miles 
long. 

The  San  Francisco  and  North  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
have  a  railroad  56  miles  long,  connecting  Donahue  with  Clov- 
erdale. 

The  Stockton  and  Copperopolis  and  Visalia  Company  have 
a  railroad  of  30  miles,  from  Stockton  to  Milton,  and  another 
of  19  miles,  from  Peters  to  Oakdale. 

The  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  have  a  railroad  94 
miles,  from  San  Francisco  to  Hollister  ;  a  branch  railroad  from 
Carnadero  to  Salinas,  38  miles ;  a  railroad  from  Goshen  to 
Delano,  50  ;  and  50  miles  from  San  Fernando  to  Rubottom. 

The  Sacramento  Valley  Railroad,  from  Sacramento  to 
Shingle  Springs,  is  49  miles  long. 

The  railroad  routes  above  given,  aggregating  1,671  miles, 
are  under  the  control  of  the  gentlemen  who  compose  the  Cen- 
tral Pacific  Railroad  Company.  Of  the  Central  Pacific  main 
line,  605  miles  are  in  Nevada  and  Utah,  leaving  1,036  miles 
of  its  main  road  and  branches  in  California,  now  completed. 

The  Northern  California  Railroad,  from  Marysville  to  Oro- 
ville,  is  26  miles  long. 

The  Pittsburg  and  Black  Diamond  Railroad,  connecting  the 
Monte  Diablo  coal  mines  with  Antioch,  is  7  miles  long. 

The  San  Rafael  and  San  Quentin  Railroad  is  3|  miles  long. 

The  total  length  of  the  steam  railroads  in  California  is  1,1651 
miles. 

The  San  Francisco  and  North  Pacific  Coast  Railroad  Com- 
pany is  now  constructing  a  railroad  with  a  gauge  of  three  feet, 
to  run  from  Saucelito  to  Bodega,  by  way  of  San  Rafael,  and 
promises  to  have  the  cars  running  to  San  Rafael  before  mid- 
summer of  1874. 


172  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  has  promised  to 
build  twenty-five  miles  of  railroad,  from  Los  Angeles  to  Ana- 
heim, within  two  years,  and  has  commenced  the  work. 

Congress  has  given  12,800  acres  per  mile,  for  a  continuous 
railroad  from  Sacramento  to  Portland,  and  170  miles  of  the 
road  in  California,  and  203  in  Oregon,  are  in  running  order, 
leaving  a  gap  of  209  miles  unfinished  between  Redding  and 
Roseburg.  Short  as  is  the  gap,  and  valuable  as  are  the  roads 
in  the  Sacramento  and  Willamette  Valleys,  with  considerable 
bodies  of  rich  land  in  the  Klamath  and  Rogue  Valleys,  yet 
the  progress  of  the  work  is  very  slow,  and  fears  are  enter- 
tained that  the  connection  will  not  be  completed  for  some 
years.  The  work  is  entrusted  to  two  companies,  one  in  Oregon 
and  one  in  California,  and  each  is  required  to  finish  twenty 
miles  every  year,  and  to  reach  the  line  before  1876. 

Congress  has  granted  to  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railroad, 
12,800  acres  per  mile  along  its  route  in  California,  and  25,000 
acres  per  mile  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  In  Texas  the 
land  is  the  property  of  the  State,  and  the  Legislature  has  given 
a  large  quantity,  enough,  it  is  said,  to  secure  the  comple- 
tion of  the  road  from  Marshall  to  the  western  border.  The 
distance  from  San  Diego  to  Galveston  is  1,500  miles,  whereas 
that  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York,  by  the  Middle  Pacific, 
is  3,300.  But  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York  by  way  of 
San  Diego  and  Marshall,  the  distance  is  3,600  miles.  The 
grades  on  the  Texas  and  Pacific  are  better  than  on  the  Middle 
Pacific,  and  there  is  no  danger  of  snow.  An  Act  of  Congress, 
passed  on  the  2d  of  May,  1872,  provides  that  not  less  than 
one  hundred  miles  must  be  built  annually,  from  Marshall  west- 
ward, and  not,  less  than  ten  miles  before  the  2d  of  May,  1874, 
and  after  that  twenty-five  miles  a  year  from  San  Diego  east- 
ward, and  that  the  whole  road  shall  be  finished  before  the 
2d  of  May,  1882.  Congress  has  granted  to  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Railroad  Company  a  subsidy  of  25,600  acres  per  mile, 
for  a  railroad  from  the  southern  line  of  Missouri  to  Fort  Mo- 


COMMERCE.  173 

jave  on  the  Colorado  River,  and  12,800  acres  per  mile  for  the 
extension  of  the  road  from  that  point  to  some  convenient  point 
on  the  Pacific  ocean.  A  subsidy  of  12,800  acres  per  mile  has 
also  been  given  to  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  of 
California  for  a  branch  road  to  run  from  San  Jose,  to  con- 
nect at  Fort  Mojave  with  the  main  road  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific. 

§  127.  Railroad  Terminus. — The  question  of  the  main 
terminus  of  the  railroad  system  of  the  State  is  not  yet  settled ; 
although  five  years  have  elapsed  since  the  cars  from  the  Mis- 
souri River  began  to  run  regularly  to  Sacramento.  San  Fran- 
cisco, having  all  the  importing  business,  all  the  exporting 
houses,  all  the  first-class  wholesale  houses,  and  nearly  all  the 
banking  and  insurance  capital  of  the  State,  was,  so  far  as  the 
concentration  of  business  and  business  men  could  make  it, 
the  proper  terminus  for  the  road.  But  it  had  the  serious  dis- 
advantage of  being  cut  off  from  Sacramento — the  inland 
business  center  of  the  State — by  swamps,  mountains,  and 
bays.  The  distance  from  Sacramento  to  San  Francisco,  in  a 
direct  line,  is  seventy-six  miles ;  to  Oakland,  by  rail  through 
Livermore  Pass,  135  ;  to  San  Francisco,  via  Livermore  Pass 
and  San  Jose  (the  only  rail  route  to  San  Francisco)  178  miles  ; 
to  Oakland,  by  Stockton,  Bantas,  and  Martinez,  (road  not 
yet  made)  148 ;  to  San  Francisco  via  Bantas,  Martinez,  Oak- 
land and  San  Jose,  248 ;  to  San  Francisco,  via  Bantas,  Mar- 
tinez, Oakland,  and  projected  bridge  across  the  bay  at  Rav- 
enswood,  208  miles. 

After  the  completion  of  the  road  to  San  Francisco,  various 
plans  were  considered  to  bring  the  cars  into  the  city.  A  bridge 
across  the  Bay  from  Oakland,  a  bridge  across  the  Bay  at  Rav- 
enswood,  thirty  miles  to  the  south,  a  bridge  to  Goat  Island, 
which  is  only  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city,  were  all  pro- 
posed, discussed,  strenuously  opposed  on  various  grounds  of 
public  interest,  and  all  have  now  been  given  up,  or,  at  least, 
allowed  to  drop,  as  if  finally  abandoned.  It  is  generally  ad- 


174  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

mitted  that  the  cars  cannot  be  brought  into  San  Francisco 
with  a  profit,  by  rail,  but  they  may  be  brought  across  the  Bay 
in  large  ferry-boats  ;  and  one  has  been  built  to  carry  twenty 
cars  at  a  load,  and  it  is  supposed  that  this  may  accommodate 
the  business.  If,  however,  it  be  necessary,  for  heavy  freight, 
that  the  cars  should  meet  the  ships  at  deep  water,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  ferry-boat,  then  an  important  rail  terminus 
may  be  either  at  Oakland,  (after  an  artificial  harbor  shall  be 
made  there)  at  Vallejo,  where  nature  has  provided  a  good 
harbor,  a  good  upland  site  for  a  city,  and  good  water  front 
for  more  than  half  a  mile,  at  Benicia,  at  Martinez,  or  Sauce- 
lito.  The  last  place  has  many  advantages  of  position,  but  its 
site  is  composed  of  high,  steep  hills.  Oakland  is  144  miles 
from  Sacramento,  by  Stockton,  Bantas,  and  Martinez,  the  level 
route  ;  and  Vallejo  is  60  miles  in  distance,  and  ten  miles  more 
by  difficulty  of  grade  (having  an  elevation  of  200  feet  to  pass) 
from  Sacramento.  Freight  can  be  carried  from  Sacramento 
to  the  ship  at  Vallejo  for  one-half  the  price  to  Oakland. 
Saucelito  might  be  reached  from  Vallejo  by  a  road  thirty 
miles  long,  but  there  is  no  present  probability  of  its  construc- 
tion. The  completion  of  the  railroad  from  Bantas,  by  way  of 
Martinez,  to  Oakland,  would  make  a  concentration  of  chan- 
nels of  communication  at  Carquinez  Straits,  or  the  Silver  Gate 
of  California,  requiring  every  car  or  ship,  going  and  coming 
between  the  great  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Basin  and  the  sea, 
to  pass  that  point. 

§  128.  Ocean  Steamers. — All  the  ocean  steamers  of  Califor- 
nia ply  from  San  Francisco.  The  following  is  a  brief  schedule 
of  their  routes  and  times  of  departure  : 

Twice  a  month  for  Panama ;  there  connecting  by  the  Isth- 
mus Railroad  with  New  York,  and  touching  on  the  Pacific 
side,  on  her  southward  course,  at  San  Diego,  Mazatlan,  Man- 
zanillo,  and  Acapulco.  At  the  last-named  port,  one  steamer 
each  month  connects  with  a  branch  steamer  for  various  Central 
American  ports. 


COMMERCE.  175 

Twice  every  month  for  Yokohama,  connecting  there  with  a 
branch  steamer  for  Hong  Kong,  touching  at  Hiogo  and  Na- 
gasaki by  the  way. 

Once  a  month  for  Honolulu. 

Once  a  month  for  Guaymas,  touching  a^  Magdalena  Bay, 
Cape  San  Lucas,  La  Paz,  and  Mazatlan. 

Twice  a  month  for  Victoria,  connecting  there  with  steamers 
for  Puget  Sound. 

Once  a  week  for  Portland,  connecting  there  with  steamers 
for  Puget  Sound  and  Sitka. 

At  intervals  of  five  days,  for  San  Diego,  touching  at  Santa 
Barbara  and  San  Pedro. 

At  intervals  of  ten  days,  for  Santa  Barbara,  touching  at 
Monterey,  San  Simeon,  and  San  Luis  Obispo. 

Once  a  week  for  Tomales  and  Olema. 

Once  a  week  for  Salinas  and  Santa  Cruz. 

Once  a  week  for  Hueneme,  touching  at  San  Buenaventura. 

Once  a  month  for  Hong  Kong  direct,  by  a  Britisli  line. 

Once  a  month  for  Hong  Kong  direct,  by  a  German  line,  not 
yet  in  full  operation. 

Once  a  month  to  Auckland  and  Sydney,  by  a  line  for  which 
a  contract  has  been  made,  but  not  yet  established. 

The  steamers  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Company,  running  from 
San  Francisco  to  Japan,  number  ten,  with  39,000  tons ;  to 
Panama,  seven,  with  19,000  tons;  to  San  Diego,  four,  with 
3,200  tons  ;  to  Honolulu,  one,  with  1,300  tons  ;  and  to  Guay- 
mas, one,  with  800  tons,  making  twenty-three  steamers  in  all, 
with  62,300  tons. 

§  129.  Telegraphs. — The  magnetic  telegraph  connects  all 
the  main  towns  of  the  Coast,  extending  from  Vancouver 
Island,  through  Washington,  Oregon,  and  California,  to  Tucson, 
Arizona.  West  of  the  main  ridge  of  the  Coast  Mountains,  in 
California,  the  wires  do  not  extend  northward  from  San  Fran- 
cisco beyond  Cloverdale,  but  will  probably  soon  be  taken 
on  to  Humboldt  Bay.  Two  lines  connect  San  Francisco  with 


176  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  Atlantic  States.  The  present  charge  for  ten  words  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York  is  $2.5.0 ;  to  Vallejo  or  San  Jose*, 
25  cents  ;  to  Sacramento  or  Stockton,  40  cents  ;  to  Visalia,  $1  ; 
to  San  Diego,  $2. 

§  130.  Harbors. — San  Francisco  Bay,  one  of  the  finest 
bays  in  the  world  for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  is  about  eight 
miles  wide  and  fifty  long,  reaching  from  37°  10'  to  38°.  Its 
entrance,  called  the  Golden  Gate,  or  Chrysopolis,  is  a  mile 
wide,  between  37°  48'  and  37°  49'.  The  peninsulas  which 
separate  the  bay  from  the  ocean,  are  from  six  to  fifteen  miles 
wide.  The  water  on  the  bar  is  thirty  feet  deep  at  low  water ; 
inside  much  deeper,  with  excellent  holding-ground,  and  room 
for  all  the  shipping  of  the  world. 

Connected  with  this  bay,  are  those  of  San  Pablo  and  Suisun, 
lying  farther  inland,  on  the  course  of  the  outlet  of  the  waters 
of  the  Sacramento  basin.  San  Pablo  Bay  is  nearly  round, 
about  ten  miles  in  diameter,  and  lies  north  of  San  Francisco 
Bay,  with  which  it  is  connected  by  an  unnamed  strait,  about 
three  miles  wide.  Suisun  Bay,  about  four  miles  wide  by  eight 
long,  lies  eastward  of  San  Pablo  Bay,  with  which  it  is  con- 
nected by  the  Strait  of  Carquinez,  which  is  a  mile  wide.  Both 
bays  are  deep,  but  the  water  in  the  strait  is  only  sixteen  feet 
deep  at  low  tide,  and  large  vessels  cannot  ascend  beyond  it. 
Benicia,  on  the  bank  of  the  strait,  is  the  head  of  navigation 
for  shipping  of  the  largest  class,  has  a  large  and  secure  harbor, 
accessible  at  low  tide  for  vessels  drawing  twenty-two  feet, 
and  at  high  water  for  those  drawing  twenty-seven.  Five  miles 
west  of  Benicia,  Napa  River  enters  San  Pablo  Bay,  making 
Vallejo  Bay,  which  is  400  yards  wide  and  four  miles  long, 
with  a  depth  of  26  feet.  Martinez,  opposite  Benicia,  and 
Oakland,  opposite  San  Francisco,  are  cut  oif  from  deep 
water  by  mud  flats.  At  Oakland  a  wharf  has  been  built  out 
a  mile  and  a  half,  to  reach  a  point  accessible  by  large  vessels. 

The  Bay  of  San  Diego,  twelve  miles  long,  from  one  to  two 
miles  wide,  and  crescent-shaped,  running  from  the  entrance, 


COMMERCE.  177 

and  then  turning  to  the  southeastward,  is  a  magnificent  har- 
bor. A  channel,  thirty  feet  deep  and  half  a  mile  wide,  ex- 
tends more  than  half  the  length  of  the  Bay,  from  the  entrance. 
The  holding-ground  is  good ;  the  protection  from  the  winds 
perfect.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  entering  at  any  time,  but  it 
is  not  safe  for  sailing  vessels  to  go  out  during  gales  from  the 
southeast. 

In  latitude  34°  38',  thirty-five  miles  southeastward  from  Los 
Angeles,  is  a  land-locked  estuary,  about  eight  miles  long  and 
from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  wide.  It  has  not  been  surveyed, 
and  its  value  for  commerce  is  not  known ;  but  there  has  been 
some  talk  lately  of  using  it  as  a  port  for  some  of  the  adjacent 
towns.  The  entrance  is  not  more  than  ten  feet  deep,  and 
probably  not  so  deep  as  that. 

Of  the  open  harbors,  that  of  Crescent  City  is  the  most 
northern,  in  latitude  41°  44'.  It  lies  on  the  southern  side  of  a 
rocky  point  that  juts  out  about  half  a  mile  in  a  westward 
direction,  at  right  angles  to  the  general  line  of  the  coast.  The 
harbor  is  small  and  shallow,  with  a  bottom  of  sand  and  rocks. 
Vessels  drawing  twelve  feet  of  water  lie  nearly  half  a  mile 
from  the  shore.  The  harbor  is  safe  while  the  wind  blows  from 
the  north  and  northwest,  but  is  very  dangerous  when  it  blows 
from  the  southward.  The  harbor  might  be  made  much  more 
safe  by  a  breakwater,  at  a  cost  of  one  or  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars. 

Trinidad,  in  41°  03',  is  a  very  small  harbor,  open  to  the 
south,  with  deep  water  and  excellent  holding-ground. 

Bodega  Bay,  in  38°  18',  has  nine  feet  of  water,  and  opens 
to  the  southward,  so  that  the  anchorage  is  secure  only  while 
the  wind  blows  from  the  north.  Tomales  Bay,  just  opposite, 
opens  into  the  southern  part  of  Bodega  Bay,  and  is  only  five 
miles  distant  from  the  Bodega  anchorage  :  and,  as  one  is  se- 
cure against  northern  and  the  other  against  southern  winds, 
vessels  are  safe  in  all  weathers,  because  they  can  easily  run 
across  to  whichever  may  prove  the  sheltered  side. 
12 


178  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

Tomales  Bay  is  fourteen  miles  long  and  two  miles  wide, 
separated  from  the  ocean  by  a  strip  of  land  a  mile  and  a  half 
wide.  Its  mouth  is  in  38°  15'.  Its  Course  is  southeastward, 
and  it  is  open  to  the  northwest  winds.  The  water  is  about 
twelve  feet  deep.  Tomales  Bay  is  surrounded  by  hills,  and  is 
of  little  value  for  commerce. 

The  Bay  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  in  latitude  38°,  is  small, 
open  to  the  south,  and  of  no  value  to  commerce. 

Half-Moon  Bay  is  a  small  roadstead,  eighteen  miles  south  of 
the  Golden  Gate. 

Santa  Cruz  Harbor,  on  the  northern  side  of  Monterey  Bay, 
in  36°  57',  is  small,  has  four  fathoms  of  water,  a  sandy  bottom, 
and  is  open  to  the  south. 

Twelve  miles  farther  south  is  the  mouth  of  the  Salinas  River, 
which  is  about  two  hundred  yards  wide,  and  has  seven  feet  of 
water.  It  is  entered  by  small  schooners,  with  the  help  of  a 
steam -tug. 

Eight  miles  farther  to  the  southward  is  the  harbor  of  Mon- 
terey, which  is  large  and  deep,  and  has  good  holding  ground. 
It  is  open  to  the  north. 

San  Simeon  Harbor,  in  35°  38',  has  a  good  anchorage,  and 
is  safe  while  the  wind  blows  from  the  north ;  but  it  offers  no 
protection  against  storms  from  the  southward.  The  bottom 
is  sandy. 

San  Luis  Obispo  Harbor,  in  35°  10',  has  a  good  anchorage, 
safe  at  all  times,  except  during  storms  from  the  southward. 

Santa  Barbara,  in  34°  24',  has  an  open  harbor,  exposed  to 
the  south  winds.  The  water  is  deep,  and  the  bottom  hard. 

San  Pedro,  in  33°  43',  is  open  to  the  south,  but  probably 
might  be  made  secure  by  a  breakwater,  to  cost  one  million  of 
dollars.  The  bottom  is  hard. 

At  Wilmington,  about  five  miles  east  of  San  Pedro,  the  con- 
struction of  a  breakwater  to  provide  an  artificial  harbor  has 
been  commenced. 

Humboldt  Bay  is  twelve  miles  long,  from  two  to  five  miles 
wide,  and  is  separated  from  the  Pacific  by  two  tongues  of 


UOMMERCE.  1T9 

land,  which  are  covered  by  high  and  dense  timber,  and  offer 
an  excellent  protection  against  the  strong  winds  of  the  coast. 
The  mouth  of  the  bay,  in  latitude  40°  44',  is  a  mile  across,  but 
has  breakers  on  each  side  ;  and  between  them  is  a  channel,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  with  about  eighteen  feet  of  water  at 
low  tide.  The  greater  part  of  the  bay  is  shallow,  but  there  is 
an  abundance  of  deep  water,  with  good  anchorage  and  perfect 
safety  for.  shipping.  The  entrance  is  considered  dangerous, 
and  a  steam-tug  escorts  nearly  all  sailing-vessels  in  and  out. 

The  difference  between  Extreme  high  tide  and  extreme  low 
tide  is  about  nine  feet  at-  Crescent  City,  eight  feet  at  San 
Francisco,  and  seven  feet  at  San  Diego.  The  mean  difference 
between  the  highest  tide  and  the  lowest  low  tide  in  one  day, 
at  San  Francisco,  is  less  than  six  feet. 

George  Davidson,  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  Survey,  in  his  Coast 
Pilot,  says :  "  As  a  general  rule  there  are,  upon  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  the  United  States,  one  large  and  one  small  tide  dur- 
ing each  day.  *  *  *  The  corrected  establishment,  or  mean 
intervals  between  the  moon's  transit  and  the  time  of  high 
water  at  Fort  Point,  San  Francisco  Bay,  is  12  hours,  6  min- 
utes." 

§  131.  Navigable  Streams. — The  Sacramento  River  is  nav- 
igable for  steamers  dra wing  three  feet  of  water,  to  Sacramento 
City,  and  to  Red  Bluff  for  boats  drawing  fifteen  inches.  The 
Feather  River  is  navigated  by  steamers  drawing  fifteen  inches, 
to  Marysville,  seventy-five  miles  from  Sacramento ;  and  boats 
have  ascended  to  Oroville,  twenty-five  miles  farther.  Steam- 
ers drawing  five  feet  can  run  regularly  to  Stockton,  on  the  San 
Joaquin,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  San 
Francisco ;  and  in  times  of  high  water,  a  boat  drawing  about 
fifteen  inches  ascends  to  Fresno  City,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  farther.  A  number  of  sloughs  or  tide- water  creeks, 
navigable  for  small  vessels,  open  into  the  bays  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, San  Pablo,  and  Suisun.  The  most  notable  of  these  are 
the  Alviso  or  Guadalupe  slough,  at  the  head  of  San  Francisco 


180  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Bay ;  the  San  Antonio  slough,  opposite  San  Francisco  city ; 
the  Petaluma,  Sonoma,  and  Napa  sloughs,  opening  into  San 
Pablo  Bay ;  and  Suisun  and  Pacheco  sloughs,  opening  into 
Suisun  Bay. 

The  navigation  of  the  Colorado  is  beset  by  many  difficulties. 
The  tide  rises  28  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  some- 
times  advances  with  an  immense  bore  or  wave,  which  is  dan- 
gerous  to  small  vessels.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  river  the 
sand-bars  are  numerous,  and  they  frequently  shift  their  posi- 
tions. The  transportation  is  done  by  small  tug  steamers,  draw- 
ing about  two  feet  of  water,  the  freight  being  placed  on 
barges.  The  boats  tie  up  to  the  bank  in  the  evening,  to  avoid 
the  risk  of  running  in  the  dark.  The  distances  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  or  Victoria  Bay,  are  150  miles  to  Fort 
Yuma,  453  miles  to  Hardyville,  and  543  miles  to  Callville. 
The  last  point  is  the  head  of  possible  navigation,  and  there 
the  ordinary  surface  of  the  stream  is  780  feet  above  the  sea, 
showing  an  average  descent  of  about  a  foot  and  five  inches  to 
the  mile.  Hardyville  is  the  actual  head  of  navigation,  and 
steamers  usually  take  ten  days  for  the  trip  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river. 

The  State  has  at  present  one  navigable  canal,  built  mainly 
for  the  purpose  of  irrigation,  but  little  use  is  made  of  it.  Sev- 
eral large  canals  will  undoubtedly  be  constructed  within  a 
few  years. 

§  132.  Passes. — The  passes  on  the  mountains  which  fence  in 
the  valleys  of  California  are  important  elements  in  determin- 
ing the  course  which  commerce  must  take.  Among  the  passes 
in  the  Coast  Range,  are  the  following  : 

PASSES.                                           ELEVATION.  LATITUDE. 

<deg.  min. 

Livermore  Pass 686  37  42 

Pacheco  Pass ....  37  oo 

Panoche  Pass 

Cajon  de  Tenoco  Pass 34  40 

San  Francisquito  Pass 3>437  34  35 


COMMERCE.  181 


PASSES.                                               ELEVATION.  LATITUDE. 

deg.  min. 

Williamson's  Pass  ...........................       3,164  34  30 

CajonPass  ..................................       4,676  34  10 

San  Gorgonio  Pass  ...........................       2,808  33  55 

Warner's  Pass  ..............................       3,  780  33  10 

Santa  Margarita  Pass  ......................  ...        1,350  35  20 

San  Fernando  Pass  ...........................       I,956  34  20 

The  following  are  the  principal  passes  in  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
commencing  at  the  north  : 

NAME.                                            ELEVATION.  LATITUDE. 

deg.  min. 

Lassen's  Pass   ..................................  41  50 

Fredonyer  Pass  .................................  40  25 

Beckwourth  Pass  ...........................     5»329  39  45 

Luba  Pass  ..................................     6,642  39  38 

Henness  Pass  ...............................     6,996  39  30 

Donner  Pass  ...............................     7,056  39  20 

Georgetown  Pass  ...........................     7>H9  39  10 

Johnson  Pass  ...............................     7,339  38  50 

Carson  Pass  ................................     8,759  38  45 

Silver  Pass  .................................     8,793  3&  3° 

Sonora  Pass  ................................   10,115  38  10 

Mono  Pass  .................................    10,765  37  55 

Slate  Pass  ..................................   12,400  37  28 

Whitney  Pass  ..............................   12,057  36  32 

Walker  Pass  ...............................     5,302  35  40 

Humpayamup  Pass  .........................     5,356  35  35 

Tehachepe  Pass  .............................     4,020  35  10 

Tejon  Pass  .................................     5,285  35  oo 

Uvas  Pass  .................................     4,256  -34  50 


182  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA.. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

MAmiFACTURES,   ETC. 

§  133.  Coarse  Work.  —  Among  manufactures  are  here  in- 
cluded lumbering,  fishing  and  hunting,  brewing,  and  the  dis- 
tillation of  spirits  generally ;  but  the  making  of  wine  and  the 
distillation  of  brandy  are  treated  under  the  head  of  Agricul- 
ture, and  the  reduction  of  ores  as  part  of  Mining.  The  man- 
ufactures of  California  are  mostly  of  a  coarse  class,  requiring 
little  labor,  relatively,  and  much  raw  material,  and  of  classes 
costing  much,  relatively,  for  importation.  Our  blankets  and 
coarse  flannels  are  of  home  manufacture,  our  broadcloths 
and  merinos  are  imported.  We  make  wrapping,  but  not  let- 
ter paper.  We  have  factories  to  make  wine  and  pickle-bottles, 
but  not  plate  or  cut-glass.  Having  a  large  supply  of  hides, 
lead,  wheat,  barley,  and  grease,  we  find  it  cheaper  to  make 
our  leather,  lead-pipe,  shot,  flour,  beer,  and  soap,  than  to  send 
the  raw  material  19,000  miles  by  sea  to  the  shops  in  the  At- 
lantic, and  pay  for  manufacture  there  and  for  freighting  both 
ways.  But  our  finest  leather,  our  most  costly  malt  liquors, 
and  our  most  esteemed  toilet  soaps,  come  from  abroad.  Nitric 
and  sulphuric  acids,  matches,  dynamite  and  blasting  powder, 
are  made  here,  because  the  freight  on  them  round  Cape  Horn 
is  very  high.  Their  dangerous  character  forbids  long  trans- 
portation. We  refine  our  kugar,  because  we  get  most  of  it 
from  the  Hawaiian  and  Philippine  Islands.  Our  wire-rope  is 
produced  here,  because  it  must  be  made  to  order  and  deliver- 
ed promptly ;  mirrors  are  silvered  here,  because  the  process  is 


UNIVERSITY 


simple,  and  the  foreign  mirrors  are  frequently  injured  in  trans- 
portation. We  produce  no  manufactures  for  exportation,  and 
many  years  may  elapse  before  we  supply  the  finer  articles 
needed  for  home  consumption. 

§  134.  Obstacles. — The  lack  of  water-power  near  the  me- 
tropolis, the  high  price  of  transportation,  the  dearness  of  fresh 
water  in  our  large  towns,  and  the  high  price  of  land  suitable 
for  factory  sites  near  a  deep  water-front  in  secure  harbors,  all 
tend  to  increase  the  difficulties  of  manufacturing.  The  high 
rate  of  wages,  however,  is  the  chief  obstacle.  This  is  felt  at 
once,  at  the  very  beginning  of  every  enterprise,  and  is  much 
more  oppressive  in  many  branches  than  all  the  other  obstacles 
together.  The  expenses  of  living  are  less  here  than  in  the 
Eastern  States ;  and  in  no  city  on  the  Atlantic  slope  can  so 
much  comfort  and  enjoyment  be  obtained  for  the  same  money 
as  in  San  Francisco.  The  extreme  heat  of  summer,  the  cold 
of  winter,  and  the  diseases  which  they  bring  upon  the  poor, 
make  a  great  difference  against  Eastern  cities.  There  is  no 
good  reason  why  labor  should  not  be  as  cheap  here  as  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  except  that,  on  account  of  the  lack  of 
manufactures  and  of  irrigating  ditches,  there  is  not  sufficient 
regularity  of  employment.  At  favorable  seasons  the  demand 
for  laborers  in  the  mines  and  farming  districts  exceeds  the  sup- 
ply, and  the  excessive  competition  of  employers  at  such  times, 
and  the  idleness  of  laborers  at  others,  equally  tend  to  keep 
up  wages. 

The  interest  of  the  State  demands  the  payment  of  the  high- 
est wages  at  which  the  employer  can  aiford  to  find  work  for 
all  white  applicants ;  but  a  rate  so  high  that  it  prevents  the  es- 
tablishment of  manufactories,  and  leaves  a  considerable  part  of 
the  people  without  occupation  during  three  or  four  months  ev- 
ery year,  repels  immigration,  keeps  down  the  value  of  land, 
hampers  commerce  and  agriculture,  and  is  one  of  the  most  se- 
rious misfortunes  that  can  befall  a  State. 

Our  agricultural  and  mining  industries  have  reached  ad- 
vanced development  in  some  branches,  while  our  manufactures 


184  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

are  backward.  The  chief  working  force  of  the  world  is  now 
steam,  and  the  State  which  relies  mainly  on  its  human  muscle, 
as  California  does,  is  at  a  great  disadvantage.  We  not  only 
lose  the  profit  on  the  steam-engines,  and  that  on  the 
wages  of  the  skilled  operatives,  but  we  condemn  ourselves 
to  the  production  of  raw  material — the  most  unprofitable  of 
all  occupations — pay  freight  on  raw  material  to  Atlantic  ports, 
and  on  the  manufactured  articles  back,  deprive  our  land-own- 
ers of  the  rent  of  factories  and  dwellings  for  factory  laborers, 
and  leave  our  farmers  without  a  home  market.  We  send  our 
wool,  hides,  leather,  bones,  horns,  and  mustard  to  distant 
countries,  and  receive  one-third  of  them  in  a  manufactured 
condition — another  third  going  to  pay  the  manufacturers, 
middlemen,  and  shippers. 

Prominent  among  the  obstacles  to  the  development  of  our 
own  manufactures,  -is  the  lack  of  cheap  coal,  iron,  and  hard 
wood.  The  western  slope  of  the  continent  does  not,  so  far  as 
known,  produce  any  first-rate  mineral  coal,  which  is  the  basis 
of  mechanical  power.  Such  coal  as  we  have  in  California  is 
not  abundant,  nor  is  its  extraction  very  cheap.  Iron  ore  of 
excellent  quality  we  have,  but  dear  transportation  and  dear 
coal  prevent  the  erection  of  furnaces,  and  we  import  all  our 
iron  from  Atlantic  ports.  Tough  hard  wood  (such  as  oak, 
ash,  and  hickory,  fit  for  wagons,  cars,  agricultural  implements, 
and  strong  casks)  is  imported  from  the  Eastern  States.  The 
unsettled  state  of  society,  the  insecurity  of  land  titles,  and  the 
frequency  of  land  suits,  tend  to  repel  capital  and  keep  up  the 
rates  of  interest,  which  are  so  high  that  manufacturers  cannot 
afford  to  pay  the  current  rates.  Yet,  if  large  manufacturing 
establishments  offered  an  unexceptionable  security,  they  could 
probably  borrow  at  the  rates  slightly  in  advance  of  those  cur- 
rent in  England. 

§  135.  Statistics. — According  to  the  Federal  census,  Califor- 
nia had,  in  1870,3,984  manufacturing  establishments,  employ- 
ing 25,392  persons  and  $40,000,000  capital,  paying  out  $13,- 


MANUFACTURES,  ETC.  185 

000.000  for  wages,  and  $35,000,000  for  raw  material,  and 
turning  out  products  worth  $66,000,000  annually.  The  wages* 
raw  material,  arid  ten  per  cent,  on  the  capital  invested,  added 
together,  make  $52,000,000,  leaving  $14,000,000  as  annual 
profit,  above  a  low  rate  of  interest  on  the  money. 

The  number  of  steam  engines  is  604,  with  18,493  horse- 
power, and  of  water-wheels,  271,  with  6,877  horse-power,  or 
a  total  of  25,370  horse-power ;  and,  as  each  of  these  is  equal 
to  ten  men,  the  machine  power  considerably  exceeds  that  of 
the  adult  male  residents  of  the  State. 

The  chief  manufactured  products  are  :  flour,  $8,000,000 ; 
lumber,  $6,000,000  ;  sugar  and  machinery,  each  $4,000,000 ; 
quartz  gold,  $3,400,000  ;  printed  work,  $2,200,000 ;  cigars, 
$1,900,000;  clothing,  $1,800,000;  malt  liquors,  $1,600,000; 
boots  and  shoes,  $1,500,000 ;  iron  castings,  $1,300,000;  car- 
riages and  wagons,  $1,300,000;  bread  and  woolen  goods,  each 
$1,200,000 ;  and  harness,  quicksilver,  and  distilled  liquors, 
each  $1,000,000.  The  quartz  mills  and  quicksilver  reduction 
works  do  not  properly  come  under  the  head  of  manufactur- 
ing establishments,  and  their  production  is  underestimated. 

More  than  half  of  the  manufacturing  industry  of  California 
is  in  San  Francisco,  which  produces  $37,000,000  out  of  the 
$66,000,000  of  annual  product;  pays  $20,000,000  out  of 
$35,000,000  for  raw  material,  and  $7,000,000  out  of  $13,000,- 
000  of  wages;  has  $21,000,000  out  of  $40,000,000  capital, 
and  1,223  out  of  3,984  manufacturing  establishments.  After 
San  Francisco,  in  the  amount  of  manufacturing  product,  are 
Sacramento,  with  $4,000,000  ;  Santa  Clara,  with  $2,300,000  ; 
Santa  Cruz  and  Amador,  each  with  $1,600,000  ;  Sonoma,  with 
$1,400,000;  Yubaand  Nevada,  each  with  $1,300,000;  Ala- 
meda,  with  $1,100,000  ;  and  Meudocino  and  San  Joaquin,  each 
with  $1,000,000. 

§  136.  Wages. — There  has  been  a  gradual  fall  in  the  wages 
of  labor  since  1849.  For  instance,  in  that  year  the  wages  of 
good  carpenters  were  sixteen  dollars  per  day;  in  1851,  ten 


186  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

dollars;  in  1853,  seven  dollars;  in  1856,  five  dollars;  and 
now  four  dollars ;  and  there  has  been  a  similar  decrease  •  of 
wages  in  all  those  branches  of  labor  much  in  demand.  Tail- 
ors, shoemakers,  and  cabinet-makers  have  never  received  high 
wages,  because  little  is  done  in  their  trades.  Millers,  caulkers, 
and  shipwrights  now  get  from  four  to  six  dollars  per  day; 
bricklayers,  stone  masons,  and  plasterers,  from  four  to  five  dol- 
lars ;  boiler-makers,  machinists,  and  pattern-makers,  four  dol- 
lars ;  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  and  carriage-makers,  from  three 
to  four  dollars;  house-painters,  paper-hangers,  and  steve- 
dores, three  dollars  ;  hodmen  and  washerwomen,  two  dollars; 
common  white  laborers,  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents ;  and 
Chinamen,  from  eighty  cents  to  one  dollar  and  a  quarter.  Of 
such  persons  as  are  hired  by  the  month  and  boarded,  garden- 
ers get  thirty-five  dollars;  farmers,  teamsters,  waiters,  sailors, 
chambermaids,  and  seamstresses,  twenty-five  dollars.  Clerks 
in  stores  get  from  thirty  to  sixty  dollars,  with  boarding ;  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars  without  boarding.  The  best 
miners,  of  the  class  called  "  drifters,"  who  cut  and  blast  tun- 
nels and  dig  shafts,  get  three  or  four  dollars  per  day  ;  com- 
mon miners  get  fifty  dollars  a  month  and  boarding. 

The  policy  of  fixing  wages  so  high  that  manufactures  of 
home  production  cannot  compete  with  those  imported,  that 
laborers  cannot  obtain  steady  employment,  and  that  immi- 
grants are  frightened  off  by  the  cry  that  this  is  no  country 
for  a  poor  man,  is  the  most  pernicious  one  possible  for  the 
State  as  a  whole,  and  for  laborers  as  a  class.  Irregularity  and 
uncertainty  of  employment  are  the  greatest  evils  that  can  be- 
set poor  men ;  and  inability  to  furnish  employment  to  poor 
men,  with  profit  to  himself,  is  one  of  the  most  unfortunate 
conditions  for  a  rich  man.  The  general  interest  is  best  pro- 
moted when  the  poor  man's  labor  and  the  rich  man's  money 
are  always  in  active  demand  at  a  fair  price ;  and  then  poor 
men  of  intelligence,  skill,  and  credit,  will  frequently  become 
employers,  and  by  their  influence  and  example  keep  up  a  kind- 
ly feeling  between  the  two  classes. 


MANUFACTURES,   ETC.  187 

§  137.  Navy  Yard. — The  only  navy  yard  established  by 
the  American  Government  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  is  at  Mare 
Island,  twenty  miles  northeastward  from  San  Francisco,  and 
it  is  destined  to  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  manufactur- 
ing industry  of  California.  The  site  is  excellent  in  nearly 
every  respect,  and  it  will  probably  become  the  most  impor- 
tant navy  yard  of  the  country.  The  work  on  the  Atlantic 
side  is  divided  up  between  seven  yards,  and  not  one  of  them 
is  fitted  up  properly.  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  for  1870  contains  a  report  of  Admiral  Porter,  who  said: 

"  Mare  Island  is  destined  in  time  of  war  to  be  the  most  im- 
portant of  our  dock-yards,  and  I  therefore  beg  leave  to  invite 
your  particular  attention  to  it.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  future 
all  of  our  ships  in  the  Pacific  will  have  to  depend  upon  the 
Mare  Island  Navy  Yard  for  repairs.  The  passage  around 
Cape  Horn,  at  the  end  of  a  three  years'  cruise,  should  not  be 
attempted,  and  it  will  be  found  much  more  economical  to  fit 
out  vessels  for  China,  in  California,  by  which  they  avoid  the 
Jong  passage  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  via  Brazil,  or 
the  troublesome  and  expensive  one  through  the  Suez  Canal. 
By  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  route,  the  passage  from  New  York 
to  Hong  Kong  cannot  be  made  in  less  than  one  hundred  and 
ten  days,  or  by  way  of  the  Suez  Canal  in  less  than  sixty-five 
days,  while  the  voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  the  same  point 
can  be  performed  in  twenty-eight  days.  This  is  at  once  an 
argument  in  favor  of  fitting  vessels  out  at  Mare  Island  for  all 
parts  of  the  Pacific  and  for  the  Asiatic  coast.  The  argu- 
ment holds  good  also  for  laying  the  vessels  up  there,  and  they 
can  reach  California  from  the  China  seas  quicker  than  they 
can  the  Eastern  coast  of  America,  to  say  nothing  of  the -wear 
and  tear  of  the  longer  voyage,  and  the  anxiety  of  coming  on 
our  stormy  coast  in  the  winter,  which  they  will  escape.  Sev- 
eral of  the  European  powers  are  making  preparations  to  es- 
tablish repairing  stations  in  the  East,  if  they  have  not  already 
done  so ;  while  we  need  not  go  to  such  an  expense  if  we  pro- 


188  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

vide  the  facilities  for  repairing  the  different  vessels  at  Mare 
Island." 

Our  ships  in  commission — that  is,  in  active  duty — are 
divided  into  five  squadrons.  The  Pacific,  Asiatic,  North  At- 
lantic, and  European  squadrons,  are  of  nearly  equal  force ; 
while  the  South  Atlantic  is  of  about  half  the  force  of  either 
of  the  others.  The  vessels  are  fitted  up  to  cruise  for  a  period 
of  three  years.  The  men  are  enlisted  for  that  time,  and  the 
imperishable  ammunition  and  stores  are  calculated  to  last  for 
that  period  ;  and  as  it  takes  many  months  for  a  ship  to  reach  a 
distant  station,  if  the  cruises  were  shorter,  most  of  the  time 
would  be  lost  in  the  outward  and  home  voyages.  For  many 
years  it  was  customary,  on  account  of  lack  of  supplies  and 
machinery,  and  the  high  price  of  labor  at  Mare  Island,  to 
send  the  ships  of  the  Pacific  and  Asiatic  squadrons  to  Atlan- 
tic navy  yards,  to  be  refitted  at  the  end  of  every  cruise,  thus 
consuming  about  one  year  out  of  three,  in  a  long,  uncomfort- 
able, and  useless  voyage ;  and  most  of  the  Asiatic  ships  still 
make  that  costly  trip.  All  the  war  ships  of  the  country  sta- 
tioned in  the  Pacific  hemisphere  should  be  refitted  at  the  Pa- 
cific Navy  Yard,  in  the  opinion  of  Admiral  Porter,  and  the 
present  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  and  when  the  Government 
acts  on  that  opinion,  and  puts  our  navy  on  an  equality,  as  to 
strength  and  efficiency,  with  that  of  Great  Britain,  there  will 
be  steady  work  for  years  at  Mare  Island  for  10,000  men ; 
whereas  the  largest  number  employed  heretofore  has  been  2,000, 
and  they  were  retained  only  a  short  time,  the  average  being 
from  500  to  1,000. 

The  Woolwich,  Cherbourg,  and  other  navy  yards  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  have  each  more  machinery  and  material 
than  all  the  American  yards  put  together.  The  British  yards 
furnish  employment  to  20,000  artisans  in  ordinary  times,  and 
twice  as  many  in  exceptionally  busy  seasons.  The  Cherbourg 
Navy  Yard  has  cost  $80,000,000  for  permanent  improvements ; 
and  with  the  low  wages  paid  in  France,  that  sum  represents 


MANUFACTURES,  ETC.  189 

more  than  twice  as  much  labor  and  material  as  it  would  in 
California.  The  total  expenditure  for  permanent  improve- 
ments at  Mare  Island,  has  been  perhaps  $1,000,000.  There 
are  some  dwellings  for  officers,  and  buildings  for  workshops ; 
but  instead  of  having  machinery  and  materials  for  construct- 
ing half  a  dozen  large  iron-cladsat  once,  there  is  not  enough 
of  either  for  the  convenient  building  of  a  small  wooden  vessel. 
In  fact,  we  are  almost  helpless ;  and  such  security  as  we  enjoy 
on  this  Coast  against  aggression  is  due,  not  to  our  strength, 
but  to  the  pacific  disposition  or  interests  of  the  great  naval 
powers  of  Europe. 

A  Board  of  Government  Engineers,  in  March,  1874,  recom- 
mended the  following  permanent  improvements,  viz :  For 
grading  100,000  cubic  yards  per  annum,  15  years,  $500,000 ; 
the  quay  wall,  500  linear  feet  per  annum,  $2,500,000 ;  for 
extension  of  floating  dock  basin,  and  building  and  repairing 
ways,  675  feet,  to  include  Ways  No.  8,  and  iron  floating  dock, 
$1,750,000;  for  wood  and  metal  work-shops  for  yards  and 
docks,  $500,000  ;  for  carpenter  and  joiner  shops  for  construc- 
tion and  repair,  $300,000  ;  for  machine  shops,  storehouse,  and 
offices,  8700,000  ;  for  storehouse  and  office  for  yards  and  docks, 
$250,000  ;  for  temporary  erecting-shop  for  steam  engineering, 
$300,000 ;  for  sail-loft  in  store,  $300,000 ;  for  general  store 
for  ordnance,  $250,000 ;  for  shell-house  for  ordnance,  $250.. 
000 ;  for  smithery,  $200,000  ;  for  machine  shop,  $500,000  ; 
for  boiler  shop,  $250,000  ;  for  storehouse,  $300,000  ;  or  foun- 
dry, $250,000  ;  for  construction  basin  complete,  $1,500,000. 
Total  for  fifteen  years'  construction  estimated  at  $10,600,000. 

§  138.  Lumbering. — Lumbering,  or  the  preparation  of  for- 
est timber  for  industrial  purposes,  is  an  important  branch  of 
the  industry  of  the  State.  Our  houses  are  built  of  lumber, 
our  streets  are  planked  with  lumber,  our  fields  are  fenced  with 
lumber,  and  our  flumes  and  sluices  are  made  of  lumber.  Some 
parts  of  the  State  are  very  rich  in  timber,  and  can  readily  sup- 
ply the  whole  demand.  Lumber  is  of  three  kinds,  sawn, 


190  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

hewn,  and  split :  the  last  two  kinds  being  very  small  in  im- 
portance as  compared  with  the  first.  There  are  328  saw-mills 
(205  driven  by  steam,  and  123  by  water)  in  the  State,  and 
they  saw  260,000,000  feet  (board  measure)  annually.  Men- 
docino  saws  70,000,000,  Humboldt  40,000,000,  Nevada,  35,. 
000,000,  Placer  17,000,000,  Santa  Cruz  14,000,000,  and  Sono- 
ma and  El  Dorado  each  9,000,000.  The  coast  mills  are  occu- 
pied almost  entirely  with  redwood,  and  the  mountain  mills 
with  pine  and  fir.  The  mills  in  Nevada  send  large  quantities 
of  lumber  of  the  State  of  Nevada  and  Utah. 

The  logs  cost  from  $4  to  $7  per  thousand  feet,  delivered  at 
the  mill;  the  sawing  costs  from  $3.50  to  $4.50,  and  the 
freight  to  San  Francisco  is  not  less  than  $4.50  from  Humboldt 
Bay,  or  $3  from  Mendocino  and  Sonoma  ports,  and  sometimes 
25  or  50  per  cent.  more.  In  redwood,  from  15  to  35  per  cent. 
is  clear,  from  40  to  75  per  cent,  rough,  and  from  10  to  25  per 
cent,  refuse  or  broken.  In  fir,  from  1 0  to  25  per  cent,  is  clear, 
from  65  to  85  is  rough,  and  from  5  to  10  per  cent,  is  refuse. 
The  refuse  clear  redwood  sells  for  $10  less  than  the  good  clear, 
anci  the  refuse  rough  $4  less  than  the  other.  There  is,  be- 
sides, a  commission  on  sales,  varying  from  two  and  a  half  to 
five  per  cent.  The  average  cost  to  the  producer  of  the  lum- 
ber, delivered  in  San  Francisco,  is  not  less  than  $16. 

§  139.  Cod  Fishery. — The  fisheries  of  our  Coast  are,  ac- 
cording to  respectable  authorities,  superior  to  those  of  the 
North  Atlantic  in  the  abundance,  variety,  and  quality  of  the 
fish  ;  but  if  there  were  no  superiority  in  any  point,  we  should 
still  have  cause  to  regret  that  the  natural  wealth  of  our  rivers 
and  banks  is  neglected.  We  import  largely  of  cod,  mackerel, 
herring,  sardines,  and  anchovies,  which  abound  on  our  shores ; 
and  perhaps  sardelles,  which  we  obtain  from  Germany,  might 
also  be  found  here.  The  mackerel  off  the  coast  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara is  small ;  but  a  fish  very  similar  to  the  Atlantic  mackerel, 
and  equal  in  size  and  flavor,  was  found  near  Kodiak  by  the 
U.  S.  Coast  Survey  last  summer.  The  cod  banks  of  Alaska 


MANUFACTURES,   ETC.  191 

are  more  extensive  than  those  of  Newfoundland.  Halibut 
can  be  caught  in  immense  numbers,  but  they  are  scarcely  dis- 
turbed. The  curing  of  salmon  is  only  in  its  beginnings,  while 
that  of  herring,  smelt,  sardines,  and  anchovies  has  not  yet 
commenced.  The  cod  fishery  is  languishing.  In  1873  only 
eleven  vessels  went  to  the  Alaska  banks  from  California,  about 
one-half  as  many  as  had  gone  in  several  previous  seasons.  The 
causes  of  the  decline,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  are  that  the  men 
employed  are  ignorant  and  careless,  the  salt  impure,  and  the 
drying  process  faulty.  Some  vessels  take  the  cheapest  salt  for 
curing,  and  its  alkalies  unite  with  the  fat  of  the  fish  to  injure 
its  flavor  and  reduce  its  weight.  Opinions  prevail  among  ex- 
perts that  the  process  of  drying  proceeds  too  fast  in  our  cli- 
mate, and  that  the  rapidity  of  desiccation  makes  the  meat  hard, 
and  prevents  a  certain  course  of  chemical  changes  necessary 
to  excellence.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  codfish  most  in  favor 
with  those  who  claim  to  be  gourmets,  are  also  the  most  fra- 
grant while  drying.  If  a  moister  atmosphere  than  ours  is 
requisite,  it  can  be  found  on  the  shores  of  Puget  Sound,  where 
the  climate  resembles  that  of  England.  Spain,  which  has  in 
Europe  the  latitude  and  climate  of  California,  has  never  taken 
a  prominent  part  in  the  cod-fishery  of  the  Atlantic ;  but  the 
Californians  do  not  consider  themselves  limited  by  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Spaniards. 

It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  the  codfishery  has  .been 
commenced  in  the  Pacific.  In  1864  the  first  vessel  left  San 
Francisco  to  fish  for  cod  in  the  Northern  seas,  and  her  venture 
was  so  profitable  that  a  multitude  of  others  followed  her  ex- 
ample. Since  then  the  business  has  been  irregular,  and  is  not 
important  just  now  ;  but  it  will  soon  increase,  and  take  a  prom- 
inent place  among  the  industries  of  the  North  Pacific.  Along 
the  shore  of  Alaska,  and  the  numerous  islands  belonging  to 
it,  the  best  and  largest  cod  banks  are  found.  The  fish  are 
caught  in  water  from  fifteen  to  sixty  fathoms  deep,  and  hereto- 
fore the  vessels  engaged  in  the  trade  have  salted  the  fish  down 


192  BESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

immediately  after  catching,  and  have  kept  them  in  salt  until 
their  arrival  here  ;  whereas  the  fish  would  have  been  better, 
and  the  process  cheaper,  if  the  drying  could  have  been  done 
near  the  fishing  ground. 

The  principal  fishing  grounds  are  off  the  Fox  Islands,  the 
Choumagin  Islands,  and  Kodiak,  and  a  few  boats  have  gone 
to  the  Ochotsk.  A  large  part  of  the  ocean  near  our  new  pos- 
session ofiers  a  fine  field  for  fishing,  but  the  depth  of  water 
has  been  examined  in  comparatively  few  places.  Off  the 
Choumagin  Islands  there  is  a  bank,  and  the  depth  of  water  at 
a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles  is  from  forty  to  fifty  fathoms. 
Fifty  miles  south,  83°  west  of  the  southernmost  point  of  the 
Choumagin,  there  is  a  bank  forty-five  fathoms.  Along  the 
southeastern  coast  of  Afognak  and  Kodiak,  there  is  a  bank  of 
forty-five  fathoms,  but  east  of  St.  Paul's  there  is  a  "  pocket " 
with  ninety  fathoms.  South  by  east,  fourteen  miles  from  the 
eastern  end  of  the  easternmost  of  the  Trinity  Islands,  there  is 
a  bank  with  fifty  fathoms.  Half-way  between  Trinity  Island 
and  Oukanok,  soundings  give  fifty-five  fathoms.  East  of  the 
south  end  of  Niuniak  Island,  distant  twenty-eight  miles,  the 
water  is  fifty  fathoms,  and  ten  miles  further  east  forty  fathoms 
deep.  Nine  miles  southeast  from  the  Sannach  Reef,  in  latitude 
54°  20',  longitude  162°  30',  bottom  is  found  at  thirty-five 
fathoms.  In  latitude  53°  35'  and  longitude  164°  10',  soundings 
are  obtained  in  fifty  fathoms.  In  the  eastern  part  of  Behring's 
Sea  there  is  a  cod  bank  with  an  area  of  18,000  square  miles 
and  a  depth  of  less  than  fifty  fathoms. 

Our  Coast  Survey  could  scarcely  render  better  service  to 
the  country  than  by  detailing  several  vessels  to  make  a  recon- 
noissance  of  all  the  waters  about  Alaska,  so  as  to  ascertain  pre- 
cisely where  the  best  fishing  grounds  are.  That  is  work  that 
must  be  done,  and  the  sooner  the  better.  Professor  Davidson 


"  Next  to  the  fur  trade  in  its  legitimate  pursuit,  the  fisher- 
ies Of  the  coast  of  the  new  territory  will  prove  the  most  valu- 


MANUFACTURES,  ETC.  193 

able  and  certain ;  in  fact,  I  consider  them  the  most  important 
acquisition  to  our  Pacific  Coast.  As  the  banks  of  Newfound* 
land  are  to  the  trade  of  the  Atlantic,  so  will  the  greater  banks 
of  Alaska  be  to  the  Pacific—  inexhaustible  in  supply  of  fish 
that  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  in  size  acid  quality,  to  those  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  pursuit  thereof  developing  a  race  of  sea- 
men yearly  decreasing  as  our  steam  marine,  commercial  and 
naval,  is  increasing." 

§  140.  Salmon  Fishery. — The  rivers  of  California  and  the 
waters  of  the  ocean  near  its  coast,  abound  with  fistu  Trout 
are  caught  in  the  little  streams,  salmon  in  the  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin,  and  the  rivers  emptying  into  the  ocean  north 
of  San  Francisco  Bay  ;  and  a  great  variety  of  fish  are  caught 
in  the  ocean. 

Our  fisheries  are  as  yet  so  limited  in  extent  that  few  fish 
are  salted,  nearly  all  going  while  fresh  to  supply  the  market 
of  the  towns  on  the  coast.  Salmon  is  the  only  fish  salted  for 
export.  The  species  of  salmon  caught  in  our  waters  is  called 
the  Quinnat.  They  are  hatched  in  the  rivers,  go  out  to  sea 
when  three  or  four  months  old,  stay  there,  probably  not  less 
than  fifteen  months,  and  then  return  to  the  river  in  which  they 
were  born,  there  to  spawn.  The  Quinnat  salmon,  as  found 
in  our  waters,  averages  ten  pounds  in  weight,  and  sometimes 
grows  to  sixty  pounds.  It  enters  our  rivers  in  November  and 
remains  about  four  months.  Before  our  rivers  were  kept  in  a 
continual  state  of  muddiness  by  the  gold  miners,  the  salmon 
ascended  every  brook  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  large  enough  for 
a  fish  to  swim  in ;  but  now  they  do  not  leave  the  large  rivers 
nor  ascend  them  far.  The  salmon  in  clear  water  offer  fine 
sport  to  the  fisherman  with  the  fly,  but  in  California  they  are 
caught  only  as  a  matter  of  business,  and  always  in  the  gill- 
net,  which  has  meshes  just  large  enough  to  let  the  fish  get  his 
head  in,  and  then  the  twine  catches  him  behind  the  gills  and 
holds  him.  The  net  is  not  dragged,  but  is  stretched  across  or 
partly  across  the  river,  and  is  allowed  to  drift  with  the  current 
13 


191  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

down  stream,  a  distance  of  some  hundreds  of  yards,  perhaps  a 
quarter  or  even  half  a  mile,  the  fisherman  accompanying  it 
in  a  boat.  The  net  has  lead  sinkers  at  the  bottom  and  cork 
floats  at  the  top,  so  as  to  keep  it  upright,  and  it  is  not  so  deep 
as  to  catch  on  the  bottom.  The  fish  are  swimming  up  the 
river,  so  they  of  course  run  into  the  net.  A  large  number  of 
salmon  are  taken  in  Eel  River,  Humboldt  County,  and  great 
quantities  might  be  caught  in  the  Klamath  and  other  streams 
along  the  northern  coast.  A  few  young  salmon,  varying  from 
three  to  six  inches  in  length,  are  caught  while  on  their  way 
out  to  sea,  with  fine  nets,  in  the  shallow  waters  of  San  Fran- 
cisco  Bay.  The  Quinnat  salmon  is  fat  when  it  enters  the  fresh 
waters  from  the  ocean,  but  gradually  grows  lean,  and  the 
color,  which  is  light  yellowish  red,  changes  to  a  deeper  shade 
as  it  ascends  the  rivers.  The  meat  becomes  leaner,  poorer  in 
flavor,  and  redder  in  color,  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  time 
that  it  remains  in  fresh  water ;  but  the  little  ones  which  have 
never  seen  the  salt  water,  have  a  more  delicate  meat  than  the 
larger  ones  fresh  from  the  ocean.  No  attempt  has  yet  been 
made  to  breed  fish  for  our  rivers,  though  it  might  evidently 
be  done  to  a  profit  in  many  of  the  streams ;  but  whether  in 
the  Sierra  Nevada,  where  the  mud  abounds,  is  doubtful.  Yet 
the  probabilities  of  success  are  sufficient  to  justify  the  trial. 
Fifteen  years  ago  the  salmon  regularly  ascended  all,  or  nearly 
all,  the  mountain  streams,  to  points  above  any  of  the  present 
mining  camps,  where  the  waters  are  as  clear  now  as  they  were 
in  1847.  The  rule  is  known  to  be  general,  and  supposed  to  be 
universal,  that  the  salmon  leave  the  ocean  in  the  stream  from 
which  they  entered  it ;  and  it  is  supposed,  further,  that  they 
go  to  the  very  branch  or  brook  in  which  they  were  born.  It 
is  well  known  that  there  is  a  salmon  in  the  Klamath  River 
never  seen  in  Humboldt  Bay,  and  various  species  in  the  Col- 
umbia never  found  in  the  waters  of  California,  and  salmon  in 
the  Quiniault  River,  Washington  Territory,  not  found  yet  in 
any  other  stream ;  and  the  Indians  of  Oregon  say  that  certain 


MANUFACTURES,   ETC.  195 

tributaries  of  the  Columbia  have  species  never  caught  in  any 
other  place.  If,  then,  a  million  of  eggs  were  hatched  at  the 
head  waters  of  the  Sacramento  River,  there  would  be  reason 
to  hope  that  they  would  return  to  spawn  there. 

§  141.  Various  Sea-fish. — The  halibut  are  not  sufficiently 
abundant  on  the  coast  to  make  the  fishery  for  them  a  distinct 
branch  of  business.  They  are  caught  with  a  hook  at  sea,  in 
water  varying  from  thirty  to  fifty  fathoms  deep,  on  rocky 
bottoms.  The  line  called  a  "  trawl-line  "  is  about  six  hundred 
yards  long,  with  numerous  short  lines  and  hooks,  and  is  left 
six  or  eight  hours  in  a  place,  and  when  drawn  up  has  halibut, 
flounders,  rock-fish,  turbot,  cod,  and  nearly  all  the  large  bit- 
ing fish  that  come  to  the  market.  The  bait  used  is  chiefly 
sardines  and  herrings. 

The  mackerel,  (Scomber  diego)  a  good  fish,  but  smaller 
than  the  Atlantic  mackerel,  is  caught  with  a  hook  off  the 
coast  south  of  Point  Conception.  It  is  a  surface  fish,  and 
bites  greedily  at  a  bit  of  white  rag  or  shining  fish-skin  jerked 
through  the  water.  It  does  not  frequent  bays,  but  is  caught 
in  the  harbors  of  Catalina  Island. 

The  little  brown  rock-fish  (Sebastes  auriculatiis)  is  caught 
in  San  Francisco  Bay  about  the  wharves ;  but  the  other  species 
are  only  found  out  in  the  open  sea.  They  stay  where  the 
bottom  is  rocky,  eat  crabs  and  shell-fish,  and  bite  freely  at 
hooks.  Most  of  them  are  caught  near  Punta  Reyes  and  the 
Farallone  Islands.  The  rock-fish  are  in  the  market,  and  of 
equally  good  quality,  throughout  the  year. 

The  turbot  is  caught  with  the  trawl-line  throughout  the  year. 
Soles  are  caught  with  small  mesh-nets  in  the  shallow  waters 
of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 
There  is  no  separate  fishery  for  them  :  they  are  caught  with 
numerous  other  species  of  small  fishes,  among  which  the 
smelts  have  an  important  place.  The  smelts  are  much  more 
abundant  than  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  go  in  large  shoals,  and 
are  caught  at  all  seasons.  A  large  business  might  be  done  in 


196  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

salting  them,  but  they  are  caught  only  for  the  fresh  market. 
The  anchovies  are  very  numerous  in  San  Francisco  Bay, 
where  they  try  to  keep  in  shoals  by  themselves,  but  do  not 
succeed,  and  are  caught  with  other  small  fishes  in  nets.  They 
are  fully  equal  to  the  European  anchovy,  and  may  become  an 
important  article  of  commerce.  At  present,  most  of  those 
taken  are  eaten  fresh,  and  only  a  few  are  potted.  They  are 
caught  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  Sardines  are  also  abundant, 
and  of  a  flavor  equal  to  those  on  the  coast  of  France,  but 
larger.  They  are  found  in  all  the  bays  along  the  coast,  from 
May  to  October.  An  attempt  was  made  several  years  ago  to 
pickle  sardines  for  the  market,  but  it  failed.  The  herring  is 
not  abundant  on  the  coast  of  California,  or  at  least  is  not 
found  here  in  such  dense  shoals  as  in  the  Atlantic,  and  our 
species  is  smaller.  It  is  caught  with  a  net  in  the  shallow 
waters  of  the  bays.  Shrimps  are  caught  in  the  shallow  waters 
of  the  bay  of  San  Francisco  with  small  mesh-nets,  but  are  be- 
coming very  scarce.  The  sturgeon  visits  the  rivers  of  the  At- 
lantic States,  for  only  a  couple  of  months  in  a  year,  but  it  is 
abundant  in  the  Californian  rivers  at  all  seasons.  It  never 
bites,  the  mouth  being  a  round  hole,  always  open,  surrounded 
with  gristle.  In  the  Eastern  States  the  sturgeon  is  often  har- 
pooned, but  here  it  is  caught  only  with  nets.  The  meat  is 
coarse,  and  is  sold  at  one-fourth  or  one-sixth  the  price  de- 
manded for  the  meat  of  other  fishes.  The  sturgeon  might  be 
salted,  but  nothing  has  been  done  in  that  business  yet.  An 
attempt  was  made  several  years  ago  in  San  Francisco  to  estab- 
lish the  business  of  preparing  caviare  from  the  roe  of  the  stur- 
geon, but  it  did  not  prove  profitable,  and  it  was  abandoned. 
Sea-bass,  a  fish  of  fine,  delicate  flavor,  and  highly  prized  by 
epicures,  is  caught  with  hand-lines  outside  the  heads  of  San 
Francisco  Bay,  and  in  the  bay  near  Saucelito,  with  nets  during 
the  spring  and  summer.  It  is  not  abundant.  The  sheeps- 
head,  an  excellent  fish,  is  caught  off  Santa  Barbara  with  hand- 
lines  during  the  summer.  It  should  be  brought  to  the  mar- 


MANUFACTURES,  ETC.  197 

ket  alive  in  smacks,  for  it  loses  its  delicacy  of  flavor  soon 
after  death.  The  jewfish  is  abundant  south  of  Point  Concep- 
tion, and  may  easily  be  taken  with  a  hook  or  harpoon.  It 
spends  most  of  its  time  at  the  bottom,  in  both  deep  and  shoal 
water,  but  frequently  comes  to  the  surface,  and  according  to 
report,  sleeps  there.  It  also  goes  into  lagoons,  and  likes  to  be 
near  the  kelp.  They  grow  very  large,  sometimes  to  weigh 
five  hundred  pounds ;  and  as  their  flesh  is  very  good,  a  profit- 
able business  might  be  made  of  fishing  for  them. 

Sharks  are  taken  by  Chinamen  for  food,  and  by  Americans 
for  their  oil.  The  common  sharks  caught  by  the  Chinamen, 
perhaps  more  properly  called  "  dog-fish,"  (Acanthea  suckleyi, 
and  Triakis  fasciatus)  are  taken  in  nets  during  the  summer 
months,  and  are  dried  in  the  sun.  They  are  from  three  to  five 
feet  long,  and  contain  a  large  amount  of  meat,  which  is  never 
eaten  by  white  men,  but  seems  to  have  favor  among  the  Mon- 
golians. The  fish  is  cut  open  by  a  dexterous  and  quick  stroke 
of  a  large  knife  along  the  back-bone,  and  is  then  dried  with- 
out the  use  of  salt.  The  fins  are  considered  a  delicacy.  In 
Humboldt  Bay  the  true  shark,  (Notorhynchus  maculatus)  from 
five  to  twelve  feet  in  length,  is  taken  with  spears.  Three  men 
have  a  flat-bottomed  boat,  twenty  feet  long  and  four  feet  wide, 
with  which  they  go  into  the  shallow  waters  of  the  bay,  whither 
the  sharks  resort  in  pursuit  of  the  sardines.  The  liver  is  taken 
from  the  shark,  and  the  remainder  thrown  away.  Each 
liver  yields  from  one  to  eight  pounds  of  oil.  The  spears  have 
a  handle  eight  feet  long,  which  is  loose,  and  comes  out  of  the 
spear-head  after  the  shark  is  struck.  If  the  handle  were  fas- 
tened in  the  spear-head,  it  would  be  broken  by  the  struggles 
of  the  fish.  A  rope  attached  to  the  spear-head  suffices  to  hold 
him,  and  by  its  means  he  is  drawn  up  to  the  side  of  the  boat, 
where  he  is  struck  by  an  axe  on  the  head,  and  tnus  dispatched. 
The  shark  season  lasts  only  about  two  months,  during  July 
and  August.  The  oil  is  used  for  lubricating  the  machinery  of 
the  saw-mills  about  the  bay,  and  sells  for  one  dollar  per  gal- 


198  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Ion ;  and  so  long  as  the  season  lasts,  the  fishermen  make  from 
five  to  ten  dollars  per  day. 

Monterey  Bay  is  destined  to  be  the  seat  of  a  large  fishing 
interest.  The  bay,  being  twenty  miles  wide  at  the  mouth,  and 
ten  miles  deep  inland,  serves  as  a  sort  of  bag  to  catch  the  fish, 
which  come  running  down  the  coast  near  shore;  and  as  the 
depth  of  water  is  not  great,  fishermen  have  an  excellent  chance 
at  them.  Many  kinds  of  fish,  which  seldom  venture  in  at  the 
narrow  Golden  Gate  against  a  strong  tide  and  fresh  water, 
abound  at  Monterey.  There  is  no  better  place  on  the  coast  for 
catching  sardines  and  herrings  than  at  Monterey,  which  town 
would  also  be  an  excellent  rendezvous  for  smacks  engaged  in 
catching  the  larger  varieties  of  fish  that  are  found  in  the 
Santa  Barbara  Channel.  So  many  whales  enter  Monterey  Bay, 
that  there  are  several  whale-boats  constantly  engaged  in  hunt- 
ing them,  and  about  forty  are  killed  annually.  The  Mon- 
terey whale  fishers  are  mostly  Portuguese ;  the  Chinese  devote 
themselves  to  fishing  for  small  fry,  of  which  they  catch  and 
dry  about  three  hundred  tons  in  a  year.  Besides  the  fish,  the 
Celestials  take  great  numbers  of  abelones,  the  mollusks  that 
make  the  large,  bright,  univalve,  pearl-like  shells  of  our  Coast. 

§  142.  Hunting. — The  principal  game  quadrupeds  and  birds 
of  California  are  grizzly  bear,  elk,  deer,  antelope,  hare,  rabbit ; 
the  gray  Canada  brant,  the  white  goose;  the  canvas-back, 
mallard,  sprig-tail,  spoonbill,  and  summer  ducks,  the  widgeon, 
the  teal,  the  English  black-breasted,  sand,  and  dowiches  snipe ; 
the  curlew,  the  mountain  partridge,  the  valley  quail,  and  var- 
ious kinds  of  grouse.  Nobody  makes  a  business  of  hunting 
the  grizzly :  to  attack  him  is  so  dangerous,  and  to  kill  him  so 
difficult,  that  many  hunters  will  not  shoot  at  him  even  when 
he  comes  in  their  way.  A  large  number  of  them,  however, 
are  killed  every  year,  and  their  carcasses  are  seen  in  the  meat 
markets  of  San  Francisco  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The 
meat  resembles  pork  in  its  greasiness,  but  it  is  coarser  in  texture, 
and  rank  in  flavor.  It  nauseates  some  delicate  stomachs. 


MANUFACTURES,   ETC.  199 

The  Spanish-Californians  sometimes  lasso  the  bear.  When 
four  or  five  of  them,  well  mounted,  and  provided  with  good 
saddles  and  reatas,  surprise  a  bear  in  an  open  plain,  they  all 
beset  him  at  once,  and  while  one  throws  the  lasso  over  his 
head,  another  catches  him  by  a  hind-leg,  and  a  third  by  a  fore- 
leg; and  then  two  horses  in  front,  but  a  little  distance  from 
each  other,  drag  him  along,  and  the  third  and  perhaps  a  fourth 
horse  follows  him,  each  one  keeping  his  lasso  stretched,  so  that 
even  if  the  bear  should  succeed  in  breaking  one  riata  or  slip- 
ping it  off,  he  will  still  be  held  fast  by  several  others.  He  is 
thus  dragged  to  a  pen,  where  he  is  kept  for  a  bull-fight  or 
some  other  amusement. 

It  is  only  a  few  years  since  the  elk  were  abundant  on  the 
Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin,  but  they  have  now  disappeared 
in  those  places,  and  are  found  in  small  numbers  along  the 
northern  coast,  where  they  will  soon  be  exterminated.  The 
meat  resembles  that  of  the  deer,  but  is  a  little  coarser  in  grain. 
The  elk  are  shy  animals,  have  a  very  quick  ear,  and  are  more 
difficult  to  approach  than  any  other  game  animal  in  the  State, 
unless  the  mountain  sheep  be  excepted.  They  ordinarily  lie 
hidden  in  thickets  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  feed 
about  sunrise  and  sunset,  at  which  times  the  hunters  seek 
them. 

The  black-tailed  deer  are  good  game  for  the  hunter.  They 
may  be  approached  with  more  ease  than  the  Virginia  deer,  run 
with  a  steady  gait,  and  when  disturbed  do  not  run  so  far. 
The  deer  east  of  the  Mississippi  go  with  a  run  and  a  jump ; 
the  Pacific  deer  move  with  a  steady  run.  Their  meat  is  not 
so  sweet  as  that  of  their  Eastern  congeners.  The  deer  live 
near  the  timber,  and  are  found  along  the  coast  and  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  They  were  at  one  time  very  abundant,  but  are 
now  rapidly  decreasing.  The  best  place  for  hunting  them  is 
in  Mendocino  County.  There  is  no  deer-hunting  on  horseback, 
nor  by  large  parties.  The  hunters  go  out  alone  or  in  small 
parties.  Occasionally  a  deer  is  caught  with  the  lasso,  but  this 


200  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

requires  an  excellent  horse,  a  first-rate  vaquero,  and  a  snrprise, 
or  when  a  man  riding  through  the  woods  will  occasionally 
come  within  a  few  yards  of  the  deer  before  being  seen. 

The  antelope  lives  in  the  open  plain  and  in  the  desert.  The 
valley  of  San  Joaquin  was  once  full  of  great  herds  of  them, 
but  they,  like  other  large  game,  have  become  rare  now.  They 
are  shy,  but  inquisitive  also,  and  are  easily  enticed  to  approach 
the  hunter,  who  hides  himself  behind  a  rock,  and  fastening  a 
white  handkerchief  to  his  ramrod,  waves  it  back  and  forth. 
The  antelope,  like  the  deer,  is  occasionally  caught  with  the 
reata,  but  these  occasions  do  not  occur  once  in  the  year,  and 
when  they  do  occur,  they  establish  the  fame  of  the  horse  and 
rider  engaged  in  the  exploit. 

There  is  one  pack  of  hounds  in  the  State,  and  they  are  some- 
times, but  rarely,  used  for  hunting  coyotes  and  foxes,  as  well 
as  deer. 

The  wild  geese  and  ducks  are  very  abundant  in  California, 
from  September  to  March.  They  spend  the  winter  in  the  tules 
of  San  Francisco  Bay  and  tributary  waters,  and  in  the  spring 
they  migrate  to  the  north.  While  here,  they  afford  profitable 
employment  to  a  number  of  hunters,  who  are  of  two  classes — 
the  "  boat-shooters  "  and  the  "  ox-shooters.  "  The  boat-shooters 
go  in  parties  of  two  or  three,  each  party  having  a  sloop  of  its 
own.  The  sloop  goes  to  the  slough  where  the  game  abounds, 
and  there  every  man  starts  in  his  skirF,  with  three  double-bar- 
relled shot-guns.  He  usually  shoots  first  at  the  ducks  or  geese 
while  they  are  in  the  water,  and  afterward  again  and  again  as 
they  rise  and  fly.  Sometimes  he  goes  ashore,  to  shoot  them 
while  feeding.  The  geese  spend  the  night  in  the  water — gen- 
erally in  a  slough  or  pond — and  rise  about  daybreak,  to  feed 
in  the  fields  of  grain,  grass,  or  wild  oats.  They  remain  there 
during  a  considerable  part  of  the  morning,  return  to  spend  the 
middle  of  the  day  in  the  water,  go  back  to  the  fields  in  the 
afternoon,  and  at  sunset  take  to  the  water  again  for  the  night. 
The  ducks  get  most  of  their  food  in  the  tules,  and  are  not 
often  shot  on  the  land. 


MANUFACTURES,   ETC.  201 

The  ox-shooter  stalks  his  game.  He  has  a  trained  ox,  which 
walks  before  him  and  hides  him  from  the  geese  or  ducks  until 
within  good  shooting-distance.  The  boat-shooters  average 
thirty  ducks  a  day  during  the  season  ;  and  a  good  ox-shooter 
will  sometimes  kill  one  hundred  and  fifty  geese  in  a  day. 

Snipe,  curlew,  and  quail,  are  the  game  for  sportsmen  who 
hunt  for  their  amusement,  and  the  modes  of  hunting  them  are 
the  same  as  those  in  the  Eastern  States. 

The  diver  or  devil's  diver  frequents  the  bays  of  California, 
and  is  killed  for  its  pelt,  which  is  used  for  collars,  capes,  and 
muffs,  the  feathers  being  fine  in  texture,  making  a  thick  mat, 
and  wearing  a  smooth  surface  with  lustrous  white,  gray,  and 
dark  gray  colors.  The  bird  when  shot  is  skinned  by  cutting 
down  the  middle  of  the  back,  so  as  to  preserve  the  beautiful 
plumage  of  the  breast  entire ;  and  a  large  pelt,  nicely  stretched 
and  dried,  has  at  times  been  worth  $3  or  $4  in  the  San  Fran- 
cisco market,  and  in  Europe  still  more.  It  is  said  that  as 
many  as  one  hundred  have  been  killed  by  one  hunter  in  a  day, 
but  that  was  at  a  time  when  they  were  far  more  abundant 
tban  now. 

§  143.  House-building. — In  the  building  of  houses,  the  Cali- 
fornians,  like  Americans  generally,  are  expert  and  quick.  It 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  wooden  dwelling-house  commenced 
and  finished  within  a  month.  Brick  houses  are  built  so  fast, 
that  the  mortar  has  scarcely  time  to  dry  and  harden  as  the 
walls  go  up.1  Most  of  the  houses  are  of  wood,  and  of  the  kind 
called  "  Balloon  "  or  "  Chicago  "  frames,  fastened  together  with 
nails,  without  tenons  and  mortices,  and  with  no  upright  posts 
thicker  than  two  by  four  inches.  This  kind  of  a  frame,  called 
"  Balloon  "  from  its  lightness,  and  "  Chicago"  because  they  first 
came  extensively  into  use  in  that  place  about  fifteen  y^ears  ago, 
appears  very  strange  to  a  carpenter  familiar  only  with  the  old- 
fashioned  frames  held  together  by  tenons  and  mortices ;  but 
weak  as  the  balloon-frame  appears,  it  is  really  the  strongest 
kind  of  a  wooden  building  ;  and  it  is  not  unfrequently  made 


202  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

four  or  five  stories  high,  whereas  "the  heavier  frame  very  rarely 
reaches  three  stories. 

In  the  balloon-frame,  the  sills,  instead  of  being  eight,  ten, 
or  twelve  inches  square,  are  only  two  or  three  inches  by  six  or 
eight ;  and  they  rest  on  numerous  studs,  which  again  rest  on 
the  ground.  The  sills  are  nailed  together  at  the  corners.  The 
studs  are  not  morticed  into  the  sills,  but  nailed  upon  them. 
The  lower  joists  stand  upon  the  sills,  and  the  upper  ones  rest 
upon  an  inch  board  "  let  into  "  the  studs  to  which  they  are 
nailed.  On  the  top  of  the  studs  is  no  heavy  plate,  but  only  a 
board.  At  the  corners  two  studs  are  put  side  by  side.  Each 
stud  is  hoisted  to  its  place  separately,  so  there  is  no  "  raising." 
Wooden  houses  are  all  covered  with  shingles.  White  pine, 
imported  from  the  Eastern  States,  is  used  to  a  considerable 
extent  for  the  frames  and  casings  of  doors  and  windows,  and 
for  other  inside-work ;  and  nearly  all  the  doors  and  window- 
sashes  are  imported  ready  made. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  houses  in  the  State  are  of  wood ;  the 
others  are  of  brick  and  adobes.  Stone  houses  are  veiy  rare. 
Brick  buildings  are  numerous  in  the  business  streets  of  the 
cities  and  towns.  Every  town  of  note  has  its  fire-proof  brick 
stores,  with  iron  doors  and  window-shutters,  and  its  roof  of 
brick  laid  in  mortar.  The  bricks  are  made  in  this  -State,  and 
the  lime  is  burned  here.  Brick  buildings  not  constructed  to 
be  fire-proof,  have  shingled  roofs.  There  are  a  few  buildings 
with  fronts  of  granite,  which  for  one  house  was  brought  from 
China,  and  that  for  others  from  the  Eastern  States. 

Stone  houses  are  very  rare  in  California :  it  would  almost  be 
possible  to  count  all  of  them  on  the  fingers.  Nearly  all  the 
dwellings  in  the  counties  bordering  on  the  coast,  from  Mon- 
terey southward,  are  made  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  bricks  ;  but 
most  of  the  houses  built  of  late,  and  all  the  elegant  structures, 
are  of  wood  or  brick. 

§  144.  Turpentine,  etc. — When  the  exportation  of  rosin 
and  turpentine  from  North  Carolina  was  arrested  by  the  civil 


MANUFACTURES,    ETC.  203 

war,  Butte  County  went  into  the  production  of  those  things 
from  the  pitch  of  the  Western  Yellow  Pine,  (Pinus ponderosa) 
which  grows  about  Forbestown  and  Magalia,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  to  large  size  and  in  great  abundance.  A 
hole  was  cut  in  the  side  of  the  tree  in  the  spring,  and  the  semi- 
fluid pitch  which  collected  there  was  put  into  a  retort  and 
distilled,  the  volatile  portion  passing  oif  in  vapor,  and  after- 
wards condensing  into  turpentine,  while  the  solid  matter  re- 
mained in  the  form  of  rosin.  This  industry  was  veiy  active 
for  four  or  five  years,  but  at  last  has  ceased,  as  North  Caro- 
lina has  again  resumed  her  old  industry,  and  can  make  rosin 
and  turpentine  cheaper  than  we  can. 

Some  turpentine  makers  in  Butte  County  tried  to  distill  the 
pitch  of  the  nut  pine,  (Pinus  sabiniana)  and  after  some  diffi- 
culty succeeded,  but  found  that  the  liquid  produced  was  dif- 
ferent from  turpentine,  being  much  lighter  and  possessing  a 
pleasant  odor.  An  examination  of  it  made  by  W.  T.  Wenzel, 
chemist,  showed  that  its  specific  gravity  is  only  0.694,  while 
that  of  turpentine  is  0.840,  and  its  boiling  point  differs 
much  from  that  of  turpentine.  It  was  first  named  erasine, 
but  druggists  who  have  sought  to  convey  the  idea  that  they 
had  exclusive  possession  of  it,  have  called  it  aurantine,  theo- 
line,  abietine,  and  various  other  names.  It  is  excellent  for  dis- 
solving grease,  and  its  vapors  are  fatal  to  moths. 

The  manufacturers  of  erasine  buy  their  pitch  delivered  at 
$3.50  per  100  pounds — the  price  being  about  twice  as  high  as 
that  of  the  pitch  from  the  common  yellow  pine  trees.  The 
latter  are  larger  and  grow  in  denser  forests,  so  that  one  man 
can  collect  more  in  a  day.  The  pitch -gatherer  cuts  a  notch 
eight  or  ten  inches  wide  across  the  tree,  and  three  or  four 
inches  deep,  with  a  depression  that  will  hold  the  sap,  which  is 
transferred  once  a  month  to  a  tin  can.  A  tree  two  feet  in 
diameter  will  yield  from  three  to  four  gallons  the  first  year, 
and  more  the  second  and  third  ;  and  forty  gallons  of  the  crude 
pitch  will,  when  distilled,  give  five  gallons  of  erasine  and 


204  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

twenty-five  or  thirty  of  fine  rosin.  The  distillation  is  more 
difficult  and  also  more  dangerous  than  that  of  common  tur- 
pentine. 

§  145.  Silk. — San  Francisco  has  now  a  silk  factory  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  sewing  silk.  The  silk  manufac- 
urers  are  sanguine  in  regard  to  the  profits  of  the  business  in 
this  State.  They  claim  that  the  expense  of  living  is  less  here 
than  in  Paterson  or  Lyons ;  that  the  warmth  of  the  winters 
will  save  the  expense  of  heating  the  mills,  (the  threads  snap  in 
cold  weather,  especially  when  the  machinery  is  first  started  in 
the  morning)  and  labor  is  cheaper. 

§  146.  Sulphur  and  Salt. — The  production  of  sulphur  and 
manufacture  of  its  compounds  in  California,  is  rising  in  im- 
portance. The  chief  supply  of  the  world  is  obtained  from  the 
sides  of  Mount  ./Etna,  in  Sicily,  and  this  State  used  the  Sicilian 
brimstone  until  lately.  The  sulphur  works  on  the  shore  of 
Clear  Lake  have  at  times  produced  four  tons  a  day — as  much 
as  the  Coast  could  consume.  The  freight  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean, the  increased  charge  on  account  of  the  combustible 
nature  of  the  material,  and  the  necessity  for  keeping  large 
stocks  on  hand,  so  as  to  prevent  any  disturbance  of  trade  in 
case  a  cargo  should  be  delayed  or  lost,  give  decided  advanta- 
ges to  the  home  manufacture.  The  Sicilian  brimstone  cannot 
be  laid  down  here  for  less  than  four  cents  per  pound,  and  the 
domestic  article  is  sold  for  three  and  a  half  cents. 

The  sulphur  bed  of  Clear  Lake  is  about  eight  miles  from 
the  southern  end,  on  the  eastern  shore,  only  a  few  hundred 
yards  from  the  water.  There  is  a  bank  resembling  ashes,  in 
which  there  are  numerous  alkaline  and  sulphur  springs,  and 
also  vent-holes,  from  which  sulphurous  fumes  escape.  These 
holes  are  surrounded  by  beautiful  crystals  of  pure  sulphur 
deposited  by  the  fumes  rising  from  below.  The  earth,  con- 
taining about  fifty  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  is  placed  in  an  iron 
retort,  which  is  heated  to  a  high  temperature,  so  that  the  sul- 
phur is  driven  off  in  fumes  into  a  receiver,  where  it  settles  in 


MANUFACTURES,  ETC.  205 

a  liquid  form,  and  runs  out  into  pine  boxes,  two  feet  long,  and 
a  foot  square.  It  is  as  pure  as  the  Sicilian  brimstone,  but  the 
latter  comes  in  sticks,  which  are  more  convenient  for  handling, 
when  small  pieces  are  wanted. 

The  lump  sulphur  is  used  chiefly  for  making  powder,  and 
sulphuric  acid,  which  last  is  employed  in  making  blue-stone, 
giant  powder,  nitric  acid,  and  muriatic  acid,  and  in  refining 
gold  and  silver.  The  consumption  of  sulphuric,  nitric,  and 
muriatic  acid  on  the  Coast,  amounts  to  2,000,000  fos,  and  the 
entire  demand  is  supplied  by  home  manufacture.  The  produc- 
tion of  flowers  of  sulphur  has  been  commenced  at  Clear  Lake. 
The  fumes  passing  off  from  the  retort,  instead  of  being  carried 
into  a  small  hot  receiver  as  for  brimstone,  are  led  into  a  large, 
cool  chamber,  in  which  they  condense  into  a  flaky,  snowlike 
form.  A  large  supply  of  the  flowers  of  sulphur  has  been  re- 
quired in  this  State  by  the  vineyardists,  who  use  them  to  pre- 
vent or  cure  the  oidium,  or  vine  mildew. 

East  of  Kern  Lake  there  is  a  flat,  with  an  area  of  twelve 
square  miles,  where  brine  stronger  than  that  of  most  saline 
springs  can  be  obtained  at  a  depth  of  ten  feet,  and  it  yields  a 
salt  of  excellent  quality  for  table  purposes.  This  brine  rises 
to  the  surface  in  various  places,  and  in  dry  weather  dries  and 
crystallizes,  so  that  considerable  quantities  can  be  shoveled 
up  in  an  impure  condition.  Persons  at  various  times  have 
pumped  up  the  water  and  boiled  it  down,  but  nothing  is  being 
done  now  in  that  way.  The  natural  brine  is  strong  enough 
without  concentration  to  pickle  meat. 

Along  the  coast,  salt  is  made  from  the  ocean  at  various 
points  where  the  water  can  be  admitted  at  pleasure,  or  is 
blown  by  storms  into  shallow  ponds.  The  most  extensive  salt 
ponds  of  the  State  are  in  Alameda  County,  where  several 
thousand  acres  in  a  district  extending  from  near  San  Leandro 
to  the  Mission  of  San  Jose,  are  used  in  summer  for  the  pur- 
poses of  evaporation ;  and  hundreds  of  tons  of  salt  are  pro- 
duced there  annually,  most  of  it  of  a  very  low  grade.  At 


206  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  Goleta  Ranch,  in  Santa  Barbara  County,  a  flat  fills  with 
water  during  storms  and  dries  up  in  clear  weather,  leaving  a 
bed  of  salt  that  has  supplied  a  large  area  of  country  for  many 
years. 

In  some  of  the  salt  flats  along  the  eastern  base  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  salt  has  been  obtained  for  years  by  evaporating 
water  drawn  from  pits  or  wells  only  two  or  three  feet  deep. 

The  salt-makers,  while  digging  their  pits,  found  large  crys- 
tals, which  they  tasted  and  threw  away  because  they  were 
not  good  salt.  Assays  prove  that  they  are  borax,  and  many 
of  these  flats,  which  were  not  worth  $1.25  per  acre  for  the 
brine,  have  now  been  bought  up.  It  is  singular  that  the 
brine  in  these  flats  should  be  nearly  free  from  borax,  and  that 
the  crystals  in  the  stratum  in  which  the  brine  is  found  are 
nearly  free  from  salt.  The  surface  of  the  salt  and  borax  flats 
is  usually  covered  with  slum  or  dry  mud,  about  a  foot  thick  ; 
and  beneath  that  is  a  layer  of  earth  and  sand,  mixed  with  the 
borax  crystals,  from  an  inch  to  two  feet  thick.  So  far,  only  one 
stratum  of  borax  has  been  found,  but  others  could  perhaps  be 
discovered  by  deep  digging.  The  borax  is  worth  twenty 
times  as  much  per  ton  as  ordinary  salt. 

In  Southern  California,  near  the  line  of  Nevada,  there  is  a 
deposit  of  rock  salt  in  large  rectangular  and  transparent  crys- 
tals, and  it  is  supposed  that  by  careful  search  other  similar  de- 
posits might  be  found.  Some  of  this  salt  is  quarried  now,  and 
hauled  away  by  people  in  the  vicinity. 

§  147.  Beet  Sugar. — The  manufacture  of  beet  sugar  was 
commenced  in  1870,  when  500,000  pounds  were  manufactured 
from  that  year's  crop;  the  beets  of  1871  supplied  850,000 
pounds;  those  of  1872,  1,300,000  pounds,  and  those  of  1873, 
1,500,000  pounds.  There  are  two  factories,  one  at  Santa 
Cruz,  the  other  at  Sacramento.  The  average  yield  of  beets  is 
fifteen  tons  to  the  acre ;  the  average  yield  of  sugar,  eight  per 
cent.,  or  2,400  pounds  of  sugar  to  the  acre.  It  has  been  found 
that  in  our  climate  the  beet  can  be  kept  with  much  less  ex- 


ETC.  207 

pense  than  in  those  places  where  the  thermometer  frequently 
goes  down  to  zero.  Protection  against  frost  is  expensive  in 
Germany,  and  here  it  costs  nothing.  The  Californian  beet  su- 
gar mills  are  the  only  successful  establishments  of  the  kind  in 
United  States,  but  they  are  not  very  profitable,  or  they  would 
have  been  enlarged  beyond  their  present  capacities.  Each  is 
prepared  now  to  work  up  sixty  tons  of  beets  in  a  day. 


208  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  Vin. 

AGRICULTURE. 

§  148.  Statistics. — According  to  the  Federal  census  report, 
California  had,  in  1870,  23,734  farms,  averaging  482  acres  in 
size.  Of  those  which  had  500  acres  or  more,  there  were  1,915  ; 
12,248  had  between  100  and  499  acres;  3,224  between  50 
and  99  acres ;  and  6,339  between  3  and  49  acres.  Tracts  of 
less  than  three  acres  were  not  counted.  The  round  cash  value 
of  the  farms  was  $141,000,000;  of  our  live  stock,  $37,000,000; 
and  of  our  annual  farm  products,  $50,000,000.  The  total  num- 
ber of  acres  in  farms  was  11,400,000,  and  the  number  im- 
proved, 6,200,000.  According  to  the  latest  State  statistics, 
5,261,000  acres  were  enclosed  in  1871,  and  3,653,000  were 
cultivated,  and  20,074,000  were  assessed  in  1872.  The  State 
Report  says  that  the  total  production  of  cereals  amounted  in 
1870 — we  have  returns  for  1871,  but  the  crop  was  less  then 
on  account  of  drought  —  to  30,000,000  bushels,  including 
17,300,000  of  wheat,  9,500,000  of  barley,  3,700,000  of  oats, 
and  1 ,400,000  of  maize.  In  other  words,  we  grew  nearly  twice 
as  much  wheat  as  barley  ;  nearly  three  times  as  much  barley 
as  oats ;  and  twice  as  much  oats  as  maize.  In  Ohio,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  grow  about  twenty  times  as  much  wheat  as 
barley ;  as  much  oats  as  wheat ;  and  fifty  per  cent,  more  maize 
than  of  the  three  others  combined. 

In  April,  1874,  4,500,000  acres  of  land  were  under  cultiva- 
tion, the  increase  having  been  rapid  of  late  years.  In  1860, 
the  area  was  937,000  acres;  in  1866,  1,774,000,  and  in  1870, 
2,992,000,  the  gain  being  more  than  ten  per  cent,  annually 


AGRICULTURE.  209 

compounding.  Of  the  total  in  the  spring  of  1874,  about 
1,500,000  acres  were  to  be  credited  to  the  low  land  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley,  875,000  to  the  Northern  Coast,  1,350,000  to 
the  Southern  Coast,  730,000  to  the  low  land  of  the  Sacramento 
Valley,  and  200,000  to  the  Sierra  Nevada,  with  the  addition 
of  Siskiyou  and  Shasta  Counties. 

It  is  estimated  that  40,000,000  acres  in  the  State  deserve 
to  be  considered  tillable.  The  area  of  the  land  surveyed  is 
33,000,000  acres;  and  the  amount  disposed  of,  22,000,000 
acres.  The  last  figure  includes  8,000,000  acres  of  Mexican 
grants,  7,500,000  acres  given  for  educational  purposes,  4,000,- 
000  acres  sold,  600,000  given  as  homestead  claims,  and  800,000 
granted  to  the  State  as  swamp  land.  The  railroad  grants 
cover  30,000,000  acres  in  the  State,  but  the  patents  have  been 
issued  for  only  a  small  portion  of  this  amount. 

§  149.  Colorado  Desert  Volleys. — In  considering  the  dis- 
tricts valuable  for  agriculture,  let  us  first  turn  our  attention  to 
the  valleys  east  of  the  Coast  and  Sierra  divides. 

The  Carriso  Valley,  opening  into  the  Colorado  Desert,  near 
the  line  of  Lower  California,  has  no  town,  a  very  dry  climate, 
and  a  fierce  summer  temperature.  The  same  remarks  apply 
to  San  Felipe  and  Cahuilla  Valleys  further  north,  the  last  be- 
ing the  largest  and  best  of  the  three,  with  some  excellent 
soil.  A  district  ten  miles  wide  and  forty  long,  thirty  miles 
east  of  the  summit  of  the  Coast  mountains  below  the  level  of 
the  sea,  could  be  irrigated  from  the  Colorado,  and  might,  no 
doubt,  be  made  valuable.  The  soil,  though  not  very  rich, 
would  no  doubt  be  productive  when  supplied  with  abundant 
moisture.  Wherever  there  is  any  cultivation  in  the  low  lands 
of  the  Colorado  Desert,  vegetation  reaches  maturity  six 
weeks  earlier  than  on  the  western  side  of  the  Coast  Moun- 
tains. 

§  150.      Valleys  of  the  Enclosed  JBasin. — Crossing  from  the 
Colorado  Desert  into  the  enclosed  basin,  we  come  to  the  Mo- 
jave,  which  rises  on  the  northern  slopes  of  Mount  San  Bernar-. 
14 


210  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

dino.  It  is  a  very  irregular  stream,  sometimes  being  nearly 
dry,  and  there  are  few  settlers  in  its  valley  ;  which  may  be  tilla- 
ble for  a  width  of  two  and  a  length  of  twenty  miles.  Teha- 
chepe  Valley,  drained  by  White  Rock  Creek,  is  ten  miles  long 
and  two  wide.  Amargosa  River,  terminating  in  Death  Val- 
ley, has  a  considerable  basin,  but  no  desirable  land.  Owen 
Valley,  eighty  miles  long,  three  miles  wide,  and  4,500  feet 
above  the  sea,  is  fertile,  and  is  supplied  with  water  for  irriga- 
tion by  numerous  creeks  that  come  down  from  the  moun- 
tains. Mono  Valley,  twenty  miles  long  and  three  wide,  is  sim- 
ilar to  Owen  Valley.  The  East  Walker  and  West  Walker 
Rivers,  tributaries  to  Walker  River  in  Nevada,  run  through 
deep  canons  in  California,  with  very  little  tillable  land.  An- 
telope Creek,  emptying  into  Honey  Lake,  has  a  valley  twenty 
miles  long  and  one  wide.  It  is  about  4,000  feet  above  the  sea. 
Susan  River,  emptying  into  the  same  lake,  has  a  valley  twice 
as  large.  Some  of  the  land  is  alkaline  and  unfit  for  cultiva- 
tion. Pine  Creek,  a  tributary  of  Eagle  Lake,  has  a  valley  ten 
miles  long  and  half  a  mile  wide.  Surprise  Valley,  in  the 
northeastern  corner  of  the  State,  is  forty  miles  long  and  five 
wide,  and  has  a  rich  soil  covered  in  places  by  a  dense  growth 
of  wild  clover. 

§  151.  Coast  Valleys. — In  San  Diego  County,  we  find  the 
Tia  Juana,  (part  of  it  belongs  to  Lower  California)  Sweet- 
water,  and  Santa  Margarita  Creeks,  and  San  Diego,  San  Ber- 
nardo, and  San  Luis  Rey  Rivers.  The  last  is  the  most  import- 
ant, but  they  are  all  small  streams  with  little  level  land.  Not 
ten  square  miles  out  of  fifteen  thousand  in  this  county,  includ- 
ing three  thousand  west  of  the  main  divide  of  the  Coast 
Range,  are  under  cultivation. 

In  Los  Angeles  County,  as  we  move  northward  from  the 
San  Diego  line,  we  pass  successively  the  San  Juan  and  Alisos 
Creeks,  and  the  Santa  Ana,  Coyote,  and  San  Gabriel  Rivers. 
The  Santa  Ana  is  the  largest  stream,  emptying  into  the  ocean 
between  Cape  San  Lucas  and  Monterey,  a  distance  of  a  thou- 


AGRICULTURE.  211 

sand  miles ;  and  yet  its  bed  for  ten  miles  nearest  the  sea  is  dry 
for  six  months  of  the  year  in  ordinary  seasons.  Its  waters  are 
used  for  irrigating  San  Bernardino,  Riverside,  Anaheim, 
Santa  Ana,  Cocamongo,  Jurupa,  and  Chino. 

San  Bernardino  has  the  best  wheat  land  in  the  State  south 
of  35°,  and  a  considerable  part  of  it  is  table  land,  a  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  sea.  Both  the  upper  and  lower  plains  are 
well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  sub-tropical 
fruits. 

The  San  Gabriel  River  ranks  next  to  the  Santa  Ana  in  size 
on  the  western  slope  of  the  Coast  mountains,  south  of  Monterey. 
Near  the  main  stream  are  San  Gabriel,  Monte,  Nietos,  San 
Pascual,  Santa  Anita,  and  Wilmington ;  on  its  branch,  the 
Los  Angeles  River,  is  the  town  of  Los  Angeles.  About  fifteen 
miles  from  the  ocean  the  San  Gabriel  breaks  through  a  ridge 
of  hills,  above  which,  for  a  distance  of  two  miles,  the  river 
disappears  in  the  summer  and  fall,  making  its  way  under- 
ground through  a  sandy  plain,  and  then  reappearing  below  at 
the  canon  in  the  hills.  This  plain  is  covered  with  willows, 
and  is  called  the  "  Monte,"  which  in  Spanish  means  either  a 
mount  or  a  forest.  The  earth  here  is  moist,  and  is  the  best  for 
maize  in  the  State.  The  soil  in  all  the  Coast  valleys  south  of 
35°  is  sandy,  and  at  Los  Angeles  and  Anaheim  much  of  it  is 
nearly  pure  sand.  After  running  a  stream  of  water  for  a  few 
hours  through  an  irrigating  ditch,  nothing  save  gray  sand  is 
left  in  sight.  On  the  bottom  land  below  the  hills,  water 
stands  about  ten  feet  below  the  surface,  and  artesian  water  is 
obtained  about  seventy  feet  deeper.  Artesian  water  has  also 
been  found  in  the  San  Bernardino  plain.  The  valleys  of  the 
Santa  Ana  and  San  Gabriel  contain  many  vineyards,  and  have 
more  large  orchards  of  sub-tropical  fruit  than  any  other  part 
of  the  State. 

The  Saticoy,  or  Santa  Clara  River,  has  a  length  of  seventy 
miles,  and  for  forty  miles  nearest  the  sea  its  bed  is  dry  in  the 
fall.  The  soil  of  its  valley  is  sandy. 


* 
212  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  Buenaventura  River  has  a  valley  about  twenty  miles 
long,  with  an  average  width  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  There  are 
numerous  little  valleys  in  Ventura  County,  all  well  adapted  to 
the  cultivation  of  sub-tropical  fruits.  Artesian  water  is  found 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Buenaventura  River. 

The  Santa  Barbara  plain,  at  the  southern  base  of  the  Santa 
Inez  mountains,  has  some  of  the  finest  orchards  of  sub-tropical 
fruits  in  the  State. 

The  Santa  Inez  River  has  a  valley  about  thirty  miles  long 
and  two  wide,  but  has  no  considerable  town  or  extensive  cul- 
tivation ;  and  the  same  remarks  apply  to  the  Cuyama  River, 
which  lies  to  the  north  of  it.  Both  of  them  reach  the  sea 
through  canons,  the  widest  parts  of  their  valleys  being  back 
ten  or  fifteen  miles  from  the  ocean. 

The  Salinas  valley,  the  largest  of  all  the  coast  valleys,  is 
ninety  miles  long,  and  from  eight  to  fourteen  wide.  Three 
terraces  are  distinctly  traceable  on  each  side  of  the  river.  The 
first  and  lowest  is  about  four  miles  wide,  with  a  sort  of  a  rich, 
sandy  loam ;  the  second  rises  with  an  abrupt  edge,  is  eleven 
feet  higher,  has  about  two  miles  of  width  on  each  side,  and 
has  a  coarser,  poorer  soil ;  the  third  terrace  is  less  regular  in 
height  and  width,  and  has  a  coarse,  gravelly  soil,  scarcely  fit 
for  cultivation.  This  terraced  formation,  with  its  variations 
in  richness  of  soil,  is  a  strongly-marked  feature  of  many 
valleys  in  the  State.  The  southern  or  upper  part  of  the  valley 
is  very  dry,  and  the  cultivation  is  confined  almost  entirely  to 
the  lower  or  northern  part  of  it,  within  convenient  reach  of 
steam  communication. 

The  Pajaro  valley  has  two  branches,  one  coming  from  the 
southward,  the  other  from  the  northward,  and  both  rich.  In 
the  northern  branch,  about  ten  miles  south  of  the  town  of 
Gilroy,  is  a  plain  of  about  ten  thousand  acres  of  rich  swamp 
that  needs  draining. 

The  San  Lorenzo,  flowing  southward  into  Monterey  Bay,  is 
the  first  stream  to  which  we  have  come  with  a  considerable 


AGRICULTURE.  213 

body  of  forest  in  the  low  land  of  its  basin.  The  pasturage  is 
good,  but  the  area  of  tillable  soil  is  scanty. 

Passing  by  the  Golden  Gate  in  our  northward  course,  we 
find  that  the  next  noteworthy  stream  entering  the  ocean  is 
Russian  River,  which  has  a  main  valley  forty  miles  long  and 
about  three  miles  wide,  much  of  it  very  fertile.  It  has  also  a 
number  of  small  tributary  valleys,  including  those  of  Green, 
Dry,  Santa  Rosa,  Mark  West,  Knight's,  Spring,  Redwood,  and 
Potter  Creeks. 

Walhalla,  Navarro,  Eel,  and  Mad  Rivers,  are  in  the  redwood 
region,  and  those  portions  of  their  basins  within  twenty  miles 
of  the  ocean  are  covered  with  dense  forests  of  the  Coast  Se- 
quoia, which  is  almost  ineradicable ;  and  tillage  is  possible,  or 
at  least  profitable,  only  in  places  that  happen  to  be  free  from 
those  trees. 

The  Klamath  rises  in  Oregon,  and  has  a  considerable  part 
of  its  basin,  including  much  fertile  land,  in  California.  Nearly 
all  of  its  tillable  soil  is  2,000  feet  or  more  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  and  is  exposed  to  severe  winter  and  frequent  frosts 
in  spring  and  fall. 

§  152.  San  Francisco  JBasin. — "The  San  Francisco  Basin, 
lying  west  of  the  Diablo  Divide  and  finding  its  outlet  to  the 
sea  at  the  Golden  Gate,  is  the  richest  part  of  the  State.  It 
extends  from  Calistoga  to  Gilroy,  a  distance  of  1 20  miles  from 
north  to  south,  and  is  about  twenty-five  miles  wide.  Going 
southward  from  San  Francisco,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Gabilan  Ridge,  we  pass  San  Andreas,  Raymundo,  and  Red- 
wood Valleys,  opening  into  the  San  Mateo  plain,  bounded  on 
the  east  by  San  Francisco  Bay.  These  little  valleys  are  well 
wooded,  have  good  soil,  and  beautiful  scenery ;  and  the  country 
below  them  is  covered  with  the  country  residences  of  the  rich 
men  of  San  Francisco. 

Santa  Clara  Valley,  about  thirty  miles  long,  and  ten  miles 
wide  at  its  mouth,  is  the  richest  and  largest  of  the  valleys  in 
the  San  Francisco  Basin.  Its  proximity  to  the  metropolis,  its 


214  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

facilities  for  communication  by  land  and  water,  and  the  abund- 
ance of  its  artesian  wells,  contribute  to  attract  population  aud 
stimulate  cultivation.  Wheat,  temperate  fruits,  and  straw- 
berries, are  among  its  chief  productions.  Much  of  the  valley 
is  covered  with  scattered  oak  trees. 

The  Alameda  plain,  between  the  Contra  Costa  Ridge  and 
San  Francisco  Bay,  has  a  rich,  deep  soil,  excellent  for  wheat 
and  barley,  and  part  of  it  well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of 
kitchen  vegetables ;  and  of  these  the  metropolis  gets  a  large 
portion  of  its  supply  here.  Orchards  of  apple,  pear,  plum, 
cherry,  and  peach  trees,  are  numerous. 

Between  the  Contra  Costa  Ridge  and  the  Diablo  Divide 
lies  a  valley  called  Amador,  Livermore,  San  Ramon,  Alamo, 
and  Pacheco,  in  different  parts.  The  first  two  have  their  out- 
let to  the  southward  ;  the  last  three  send  their  waters  to  the 
Strait  of  Carquinez,  at  Martinez.  Alameda  Creek,  which 
drains  Amador  and  Livermore  Valleys,  runs  through  Suftol 
Dale,  which  is  about  three  miles  in  diameter,  and  is  surrounded 
by  steep  mountains. 

Tasajera  and  Diablo  are  small  valleys  running  down  from 
Mt.  Diablo. 

Crossing  the  Strait  of  Carquinez,  we  come  to  Napa  Valley, 
which  is  forty  miles  long,  by  two  miles  of  an  average  widttu 
At  the  lower  end  the  soil  is  a  deep  loam,  and  very  fertile  ; 
near  the  upper  end  we  find  much  gravel.  Wheat  is  cultivated 
in  the  rich  soil ;  vineyards  and  orchards  are  more  profitable 
farther  north.  The  possession  of  a  railroad,  of  numerous 
places  of  fashionable  resort,  of  beautiful  scenery,  and  a 
healthful  climate,  have  contributed  to  place  Napa  Valley  next 
to  Santa  Clara  in  relative  wealth.  Conn  and  Brown  Valleys 
are  small  tributaries  of  Napa. 

Sonoma  Valley  is  about  fifteen  miles  long  and  two  wide. 
Most  of  the  soil  is  thin  and  not  well  adapted  for  grain,  but  the 
grape  flourishes,  and  this  valley  has  more  vines  than  any  other 
district  of  its  size  in  the  State. 


AGRICULTURE.  215 

Petaluma  Valley,  about  twenty  miles  long  and  three  wide, 
has  a  rich  moist  soil,  and  a  cool  climate,  and  is  well  adapted 
to  the  cultivation  of  fruit,  maize,  and  wheat. 

§  153.  Sacramento- San  Joaquin  Valley. — The  Sacramento- 
San  Joaquin  Valley  is  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long  from 
north  to  south,  and  forty  miles  wide,  with  an  area  of  14,000 
square  miles,  not  more  than  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea 
level.  On  the  western  side  there  are  few  streams  ;  on  the 
eastern,  many.  Near  the  middle  of  the  valley  there  is  much 
tule  or  swamp,  and  south  of  Tulare  Lake  there  is  some  alka- 
line soil.  The  entire  valley  has  a  warm  summer  climate,  and 
the  greater  portion  of  its  surface  is  bare  of  trees,  and  is  too 
dry  to  produce  wheat  regularly  without  irrigation.  The  supply 
of  water  available  for  irrigation  is  abundant,  and  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  country  not  unfavorable  for  the  construction  of 
canals. 

The  only  minor  valleys  of  note,  tributary  on  the  west  side  to 
the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Valley,  are  the  Suisun,  Pleasant, 
Putah,  and  Cache  Valleys,  all  of  them  formed  in  the  coast 
mountains,  not  far  north  from  the  Strait  of  Carquinez,  and  all 
of  them  fertile  and  well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  grapes 
and  fruit.  Tributary  to  Putah  Valley  are  Berreyesa,  Pope,  and 
Coyote  Valleys,  and  tributary  to  Cache  Creek  are  the  valleys 
of  Clear  Lal^e,  (which  lies  about  a  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea)  and  Long,  Bear,  and  Indian  Creeks. 

Most  of  the  rivers  coming  down  from  the  Sierra  Nevada 
have  little  bottom  land  until  they  get  down  into  the  main 
valley.  King's,  Kaweah,  Tule,  and  Kern  Rivers,  which  reach 
the  middle  of  the  valley  south  of  36°  30',  all  have  deltas  of 
rich,  moist  soil,  on  which  the  water  may  be  found  at  a  depth 
varying  from  seven  to  twenty  feet.  These  deltas  are  admira- 
bly adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  cotton. 

§  154.  Farming  Advantages. — The  Californian  farmer  has 
a  great  advantage  over  those  of  the  northern  Atlantic  States, 
in  the  mildness  of  the  winters.  Here  we  have  no  snow  or 


216  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

ice,  and  no  time  is  lost  because  of  cold.  Neither  are  our 
frosts  so  severe  as  those  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  climate 
in  the  valleys  is  so  warm,  and  the  sky  so  clear  through  the 
winter,  that  vegetable  life  is,  in  ordinary  seasons,  almost  as 
active  in  January  as  in  July  ;  and  our  trees  and  shrubs  have 
nearly  twice  as  much  time  to  grow  and  mature  as  in  the  free 
States  of  the  East,  where  frost  reigns  from  October  to  May. 
It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  California  has  produced  larger 
specimens  of  garden  vegetables,  more  thrifty  growth  and  rapid 
development  of  fruit  trees,  and  larger  crops  of  small  grain  to 
the  acre,  than  any  State  in  the  Union,  and  many  persons  have 
supposed  our  soil  to  be  richer.  No  comparison  of  our  soils  has 
been  made  by  chemical  analysis  with  those  of  Illinois,  Mis- 
souri, Indiana,  and  Ohio  ;  but  the  probability  is,  that  the  latter 
are  more  fertile.  The  loam  is  deeper ;  the  vegetation  has  been 
greater,  and  it  has  enriched  the  soil  by  the  accumulation  of 
its  decomposed  remains  through  thousands  of  years ;  whereas 
in  the  valleys  of  California,  the  vegetation  is  comparatively 
scanty,  and  the  air  is  for  much  of  the  year  too  dry  to  permit  a 
decomposition  of  wood  or  grass  to  enrich  the  soil.  The  bot- 
tom lands  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  are  far  inferior 
in  depth,  blackness,  and  fertility  of  loam,  to  the  valleys  of  the 
Miami,  Wabash,  and  Illinois  Rivers. 

Our  domestic  animals  can  live  through  the  winter  without 
shelter  and  without  cultivated  food,  and  thus  several  items, 
causing  much  expenditure  in  Ohio,  are  here  saved. 

The  dryness  of  the  summers  saves  much  trouble  and  expense. 
Weeds  cannot  grow  here  as  they  do  in  a  moister  climate.  A 
late  ploughing  finishes  them  for  the  season. 

Barns  are  not  generally  used  in  California.  The  grain, 
after  cutting,  is  put  into  a  stack,  or  thrown  into  a  heap,  until 
a  threshing-ma  chine  can  be  obtained,  and  the  grain  is  then 
placed  in  the  granary.  Between  harvest  and  threshing  time 
there  is  little  danger  of  rain ;  and  to  such  slight  danger  as 
there  is,  every  farmer  exposes  himself.  Barns  in  other  countries 


AGRICULTURE.  217 

are  necessities :  here  they  could  not  be  used  if  we  had  them. 
Not  unfrequently  the  grain,  within  two  weeks  after  cutting, 
is  stored  in  a  warehouse  in  San  Francisco ;  often  it  is  left  lying 
in  sacks  upon  the  fields  until  it  is  sold — a  period  of  months. 
In  August  and  September,  the  square  piles  of  white  sacks  in 
the  stubble-fields  are  a  common  and  prominent  feature  of  the 
Californian  landscape  in  the  farming  districts. 

As  our  valleys  are  not  covered  with  sod,  so  the  first  plough- 
ing is  yearly  as  easy  as  any  of  the  subsequent  ones  ;  and  the 
severe  task  of  breaking  prairie,  so  common  in  the  States  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  Valley,  is  unknown  here. 

§  155.  Disadvantages. — The  most  serious  disadvantage  of 
California  as  a  farming  country  is  the  frequency  of  droughts. 
The  necessity  of  irrigation  over  a  large  part  of  the  State  im- 
poses a  heavy  burden  on  the  farmer,  equal  generally  to  two 
dollars  an  acre,  annually;  and  although  this  expenditure  is 
more  than  repaid  in  the  increased  yield,  yet  many  of  the  farm- 
ers cannot  afford  to  make  the  advance.  Without  irrigation, 
there  is  no  proper  rotation  of  crops,  and  the  soil  is  exhausted 
by  the  cultivation  of  the  same  grain  for  many  successive  years. 
Rotation  is  impossible  on  the  greater  part  of  the  land,  because 
its  dry  ness  will  not  permit  the  growth  of  roots  or  common 
grasses.  The  soil  is  too  dry  for  maize,  potatoes,  turnips,  clo- 
ver, alfalfa  or  lucerne,  and  timothy  or  herd's  grass.  Peas  and 
beans  yield  well  in  only  a  few  localities.  In  consequence  of 
the  dryness  of  the  summers,  our  farming  is  confined  chiefly 
to  wheat  and  barley,  which  are  produced  in  surplus,  and  are 
governed  in  prices  by  the  distant  markets  to  which  we  must 
send  them  at  our  expense. 

Ploughing  commences  with  the  first  heavy  rain,  but  the 
farmer  may  lose  much  time  in  waiting  for  it  to  come.  The 
heat  and  drought  of  summer  and  autumn  bake  the  ground, 
and  render  it  too  hard  for  the  plough  ;  so  the  sooner  the  rains 
come,  after  the  first  of  October,  the  more  convenient  for  hLrn,, 
and  the  more  work  he  can  do.  The  rain  must  be  sufficient  to 


218  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

wet  the  earth  down  four  or  six  inches  deep  ;  a  little  shower 
will  not  suffice.  The  soils  of  loam  and  clay  are  so  hard,  that 
no  ordinary  plough  is  strong  enough  to  break  through  them  ; 
and  ploughing  would  do  no  good  before  the  rains,  because  the 
earth  would  be  in  large  clods,  which  would  furnish  little 
nutriment  to  the  grain.  If,  however,  the  land  had  been 
ploughed  late  in  the  spring  and  allowed  to  lie  fallow,  it  may  be 
in  good  condition  for  ploughing  in  the  early  fall.  Grasshop- 
pers, akin  to  the  "  locusts  "  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  have  fre- 
quently done  great  damage  to  the  crops,  though  not  in  the 
middle  of  the  larger  valleys,  where  extensive  areas  have 
been  regularly  cultivated. 

§  156.  Droughts. — It  is  estimated  that  twelve  inches  ol 
water  are  sufficient  to  secure  a  good  wheat  crop  in  California — 
that  is,  distributed  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  best  adapted 
to  the  growth  of  the  grain.  But  the  rains  do  not  come  at 
such  times  and  in  such  manners.  They  pour  down  in  excess 
in  one  month,  and  they  fail  to  appear  in  the  next.  They  may 
be  abundant — either  too  early,  or  too  late  to  do  much  good ; 
and  usually  there  is  a  partial  failure  when  the  rainfall  does  not 
amount  to  sixteen  inches,  and  when  less  than  fourteen  inches, 
the  failure  is  general.  In  the  last  twenty  years  there  have 
been  seven  of  general  failure  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  and 
the  proportion  is  still  larger  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  where 
the  rainfall  is  considerably  less. 

The  most  disastrous  drought  in  the  history  of  the  State  was 
that  of  the  summer  of  1863  and  1864,  the  two  winters  preced- 
ing them  having  brought,  together,  only  as  much  rain  as 
should  have  been  brought  by  one  winter.  The  result  was 
a  complete  failure  of  grain  and  grass  everywhere,  save  on  the 
northern  coast,  and  a  great  mortality  among  farm  animals. 
Out  of  3,000,000  horses,  neat  cattle,  and  sheep,  in  the  State, 
more  than  800,000  died  by  starvation^.  The  southern  coast 
suffered  most  severely,  and  in  some  counties  two-thirds  of  all 
their  neat  cattle  died. 


AGRICULTURE.  219 

§  157.  Fences. — In  the  matter  of  fences,  the  Californian 
farmer  is  at  a  disadvantage,  as  compared  with  his  Eastern 
brethren,  who  usually  have  timber  enough  on  or  near  their 
land  to  fence  it ;  but  here,  in  the  agricultural  districts  generally, 
trees  fit  for  making  rails  or  boards  are  lacking.  Throughout 
the  United  States,  the  system  has  prevailed  of  permitting 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs,  to  run  at  large,  with  no  right 
of  indemnity  for  any  damage  which  they  might  do  in  culti- 
vated fields,  unless  surrounded  by  a  "  lawful  fence."  This 
may  be  a  good  system  for  the  pioneer,  who  tills  little  land,  and 
wishes  his  horses  and  cattle  to  have  a  wide  range ;  and  it  was 
well  suited  to  the  pastoral  life  of  the  Spanish  Californians 
previous  to  the  American  conquest :  but  it  is  of  doubtful  policy 
as  applied  to  the  present  condition  of  atfairs,  at  least  in  the 
principal  agricultural  valleys,  where  all  the  land  is  under 
plough. 

According  to  the  Federal  Agricultural  Report  of  1871, 
California  had,  in  1870,4,971,504  acres  under  fence,  used  66,- 
000  miles  of  fencing  ;  the  cost  of  the  present  fencing  is  $29,- 
600,000 ;  the  annual  cost  of  repairs  is  $1,800,000  ;  the  annual 
interest  on  the  cost  is  $1,770,000 ;  the  annual  interest  and 
repairs  together  .amount  to  $3,575,000,  and  the  average  cost 
of  new  fencing  is  about  $450  per  mile.  The  estimate  of  $1,770,- 
000  for  the  interest  on  the  cost  of  the  fencing  is  too  low,  and 
is  based  on  an  allowance  of  only  six  per  cent,  annually ; 
whereas  twelve  per  cent,  is  nearer  the  true  figure,  making  the 
yearly  interest  about  $3,500,000  :  and  adding  that  sum  to  the 
repairs  we  have  $5,300,000  as  the  total  annual  cost  of  the 
fences  as  they  were  in  1870.  From  the  agricultural  statistics 
of  the  Federal  census,  we  find  that  the  gross  value  of  all  the 
farm  animals  in  the  State  in  1870  was  $38,000,000,  and  if  we 
deduct  $8,000,000  for  the  sheep  which  are  herded,  and  $10,- 
000,000  for  horses  and  cows  which  are  never  allowed  to  run 
about,  we  have  $20,000,000  as  the  value  of  the  live  stock 
against  which  fences  are  necessary.  The  annual  profit  on 


220  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

these  may  be  fifteen  per  cent.,  and  the  inference  is  clear  that 
one  set  of  land-owners  must  pay  about  $4,000,000  to  let 
another  set  make  $3,000,000. 

Board-fences  are  the  best.  They  are  usually  made  five  feet 
high,  with  redwood  posts  set  eight  feet  apart,  and  five  spruce 
boards  six  inches  wide  and  an  inch  thick  in  each  panel.  Such 
a  fence,  well  made,  costs  five  hundred  dollars  a  mile.  Worm 
and  post-and-rail  fences  are  common  near  the  redwood  districts 
— for  instance,  in  Sonoma,  Mendocino,  Humboldt,  Marin, 
Napa,  San  Mateo,  Santa  Clara,  and  Santa  Cruz  Counties.  The 
farmers  generally  make  their  own  fences  of  these  kinds,  and 
the  cost  is  of  time,  not  money.  When  the  work  is  done  by 
the  job,  it  costs  from  three  to  six  hundred  dollars  a  mile, 
according  to  the  distance  and  position  of  the  timber,  and  the 
quality  of  the  wood  :  the  price  increasing  in  proportion  as  the 
trees  are  far  off,  or  situated  in  deep  canons,  and  as  the  wood 
is  tough  and  cross-grained.  Ditches  are  common  in  the  tule- 
lands.  Hedges  are  made  with  willows  and  cactus  in  Los 
Angeles,  San  Bernardino,  and  San  Diego  Counties.  There  are 
a  few  hedges  of  osage-orange  and  gorse,  for  ornament,  in  the 
counties  about  San  Francisco  Bay,  but  none  for  use.  The 
osage-orange  grows  thriftily  about  San  Jose",  where  it  can 
be  irrigated,  but  hedges  are  liable  to  much  damage  from 
gophers,  which  are  fond  of  the  roots  ;  and  if  a  hole  is  made,  it 
is  difficult  to  get  young  plants  to  grow,  the  older  ones  choking 
them  down.  After  the  third  year,  irrigation  is  not  liecessary. 
In  dry  land,  where  water  is  not  abundant  for  irrigation,  the 
hedges  do  not  grow  up  regularly.  In  the  general  opinion  ot 
farmers,  osage-orange  hedges  will  not  pay,  even  in  the  land 
best  suited  for  them :  the  labor  of  planting  the  seed,  trans- 
planting the  sprouts,  irrigating,  replanting,  and  trimming  for 
three  years,  costs  more  than  a  board-fence,  which  is  useful 
from  the  first  day,  and  is  in  no  danger  from  gophers,  whereas 
the  hedge  is  useless  for  three  years,  and  is  in  constant  danger. 

The  willow-hedge  is  the  most  common  fence  in  Los  Angeles 


AGRICULTURE.  221 

County,  and  is  a  prominent  feature  of  the  scenery  near  the 
towns.  The  fence  is  made  with  cuttings,  the  larger  the  better  ; 
the  largest  are  three  inches  in  diameter  and  eight  feet  long. 
These  are  planted  perpendicularly  three  feet  deep  and  nine 
inches  apart,  and  then  irrigated  freely,  when  nearly  all  will 
grow  and  make  a  good  fence  in  the  second  year.  If  larger 
cuttings  cannot  be  had,  small  ones,  half  an  inch  thick  and  two 
feet  long,  are  taken  :  only  an  inch  or  two  is  left  above  ground, 
and  four  or  five  years  may  be  required  to  make  a  tight  fence. 
Twigs  and  poles  are  woven  horizontally  through  the  hedge. 
In  the  course  of  eight  or  ten  years,  the  willows  grow  to  be 
trees,  with  trunks  five  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  with 
dense  tops  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  high.  They  thus  not 
only  shut  out  trespassing  animals,  but  furnish  a  large  amount 
of  firewood — an  item  of  no  small  importance  in  the  woodless 
plains  of  the  south — and  throw  a  pleasant  shade  over  the  roads 
which  they  line.  The  willow-fence  requires  frequent  irriga- 
tion, for  its  growth  will  usually  depend  upon  the  amount  of 
water  supplied  to  it. 

The  cactus  was  used  extensively  for  fences  at  the  old  mis- 
sions, and  some  fields  are  still  enclosed  with  it.  The  plant  is 
merely  thrown  upon  the  ground,  where  it  takes  root,  no  mat- 
ter how  dry  or  barren  the  soil,  and  grows  up  in  a  dense 
mass  of  thick  leaves,  six  feet  high  and  from  five  to  ten  feet 
wide.  It  is  covered  with  thorns,  and  is  feared  by  all  large 
animals,  but  spermophiles  and  gophers  are  fond  of  burrowing 
under  it,  for  it  protects  them  against  their  enemies,  and  its 
leaves  furnish  them  with  food. 

Several  machines  have  been  made  to  cut  ditches  through 
swamps,  and  throw  the  dirt  up  as  an  embankment  on  one  side, 
but  none  of  them  have  been  very  successful ;  and  the  spade  is 
still  considered  the  best  instrument  for  making  fences  in  the 
tules. 

§  158.  Varieties  of  Wheat.— Many  kinds  of  wheat  are 
cultivated  here,  of  which  the  main  are  Club,  Chile,  Australian, 


222  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Odessa  or  Old  Californian,  Red  Mediterranean,  Sonora,  Ore- 
gon White,  Bald,  and  Egyptian.  The  general  division  of 
wheat  into  "  winter  "  and  "  spring,"  common  in  the  wheat- 
growing  districts  of  the  Eastern  States,  is  unknown.  All  our 
wheat  may  be  set  down  as  spring  wheat.  When  winter 
wheat  is  brought  here  from  abroad,  it  does  not  thrive  the  first 
year ;  but  in  the  second  year,  having  been  converted  into 
spring  wheat  and  acclimated,  it  yields  well.  The  Chile  gives 
general  satisfaction,  and  is  more  cultivated  than  any  of  the 
others.  The  Australian  has  a  tendency  to  smut,  but  this  is 
corrected  with  blue  vitriol.  These  two  form  three-fourths  of 
the  crop  ;  the  other  fourth  is  made  up  chiefly  of  Mediterran- 
ean and  Sonora.  The  Egyptian  yields  largely,  but  has  little 
gluten,  and  is  fit  only  for  coarse  bread  or  maccaroni.  All 
the  acclimated  wheat  of  the  State  is  white;  though  im- 
ported red  seed  shows  its  color  the  first  year,  but  in  the  sec- 
ond year  it  looses  its  redness. 

§  159.  Quality. — The  qualities  in  which  the  best  wheat 
excels  are  glutinousness  or  strength,  flintiness  or  dryness, 
whiteness  of  color,  thinness  of  skin,  cleanness,  plumpness  and 
size  of  berry,  and  weight. 

The  value  of  wheat  depends,  to  a  great  extent,  upon  its 
strength.  In  this  point  lies  its  chief  difference  from  potatoes, 
which  always  do  and  must  occupy  an  inferior  place  upon  our 
tables.  Much  gluten  in  flour  renders  the  dough  tough, 
makes  handsome  bread,  with  the  air  bubbles  in  it  small  and 
uniform  in  size,  and  retains  moisture,  so  that  the  bread  will 
weigh  much  in  proportion  to  the  flour  used;  while  if  the 
amount  of  gluten  be  small,  the  grain  of  the  bread  will  be 
uneven,  the  dough  will  give  way  in  places,  allowing  the  for- 
mation of  large  cavities,  and  less  moisture  will  be  retained. 
The  wheat  of  different  countries  varies  greatly  in  glutinous- 
ness  ;  and  California  occupies  a  very  high  position.  Our  wheat 
is  far  more  glutinous  than  that  of  any  other  North  American 
State,  or  country  of  middle  or  northern  Europe.  The  conse- 


AGRICULTURE.  223 

quence  is,  that  our  wheat  is  now  in  demand  in  New  York  and 
England,  to  mix  with  their  weak  grain,  so  that  a  tolerably 
strong  flour  may  be  made. 

But  the  wheat  of  California  is  not  all  equally  glutinous ; 
some  of  it  is  much  weaker  than  other.  The  most  glutinous  is 
that  grown  in  Santa  Clara  Valley ;  the  southeastern  part  of 
San  Mateo  County ;  the  southern  part  of  Alameda  County ; 
and  Diablo,  San  Ramon,  and  Suisun  valleys.  «  That  of  Santa 
Rosa,  Pajaro,  Salinas,  Petaluma,and  Sonoma,  is  much  inferior 
in  glutinousness,  but  is  better  than  that  of  the  Sacramento, 
San  Joaquin,  and  Napa  Valleys,  the  vicinity  of  Half-Moon 
Bay,  and  Alameda,  opposite  the  Golden  Gate.  The  strongly 
glutinous  is  about  one-third  of  the  crop  of  the  State.  It  is  not 
known  why  the  wheat  in  one  district  is  more  glutinous  than  in 
another.  None  of  that  grown  very  near  the  coast  is  strongly  glu- 
tinous, so  the  moisture  seems  to  be  injurious.  Napa  wheat  is 
inferior  in  glutinousness  to  that  of  Sonoma,  though  farther 
from  the  coast,  and  more  free  from  ocean-fogs ;  but  the  soil  of 
Napa  is  much  more  moist. 

In  Oregon  and  Washington,  where  the  climate  is  very  moist, 
the  wheat  is  as  weak  as  at  Half-Moon  Bay.  In  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  where  a  great  amount  of  rain  falls,  the  wheat  is  also 
weak  ;  and  just  in  the  Gallego  and  Haxall  districts,  if  report 
be  true,  the  rain-fall  is  less  than  in  any  wheat  district  east  of 
the  Alleghanies.  And  yet  in  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin 
valleys,  which  are  among  the  driest  parts  of  California,  the 
wheat  is  very  weak.  This  is  accounted  for — by  those  adopt- 
ing the  theory  that  glutinousness  depends  entirely  upon  the 
climate — by  saying  that  those  valleys  are  visited,  while  the 
grain  is  in  the  milk,  by  weather  so  hot  that  the  berries  are 
burned,  and  are  prevented  from  attaining  their  perfect  devel- 
opment. It  would  be  well  if  this  matter  were  thoroughly 
studied,  for  it  is  one  of  much  importance  to  the  merchant  and 
ship-owner,  as  well  as  to  the  farmer,  the  baker,  and  the  con- 
sumer. 


224  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  wheat  grown  on  the  clayey  loam  about  Alviso,  is  not 
so  glutinous  as  that  produced  on  the  sandy  loam  about  Santa 
Clara,  and  the  gravelly  clay  in  other  parts  of  the  valley.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  soil  of  the  Putah  and  Cache 
valleys,  tributary  to  the  Sacramento,  differs  in  no  noteworthy 
particular  from  the  soil  in  Suisun,  Diablo,  and  San  Ramon, 
which  latter  yield  strong,  while  the  former  produce  weak 
wheat.  It  has  been  observed  that  during  late  years,  the  wheat 
of  a  large  farm  in  San  Mateo  County,  one  of  the  best  culti- 
vated in  the  State,  has  been  gradually  decreasing  in  strength. 
It  is  not  known  whether  the  change  is  caused  by  a  difference 
in  the  seasons,  or  by  a  progressive  exhaustion  of  the  soil.  So 
far  as  observations  have  been  made  in  California,  the  amount 
of  gluten  is  not  affected  by  early  or  late  sowing,  thorough  or 
careless  cultivation,  largeness  or  smallness  of  the  yield,  or 
cleanness  of  the  crop. 

In  flintiness  or  dryness,  Californian  wheat  has  no  superior, 
and  no  equal  save  in  the  Chilean.  It  may  be  stored  in  bulk,  or 
it  may  be  thrown  into  the  hold  of  a  ship  within  two  weeks  after 
harvest,  and  then  sent  twice  through  the  tropics,  and  there  is 
no  danger  that  it  will  heat  or  sweat.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  its  flour.  No  wheat  or  flour  from  the  Atlantic  States  is 
near  it  in  this  respect.  In  August,  1860,  J.  B.  Frisbie  loaded 
a  vessel  at  Vallejo  with  wheat  taken  from  the  harvest-field — 
it  had  never  been  inside  of  a  house,  but  had  lain  upon  the 
ground  for  several  weeks  after  threshing — and  that  cargo  of 
wheat,  when  discharged  at  Liverpool,  was  as  sweet  and  clear 
from  mustiness,  mould,  sprouting,  or  fermentation,  as  it  was 
when  harvested.  The  Atlantic  flour,  when  kiln-dried  and 
pressed,  does  not  keep  like  ours  as  it  comes  from  the  mill,  after 
having  gone  thither  fresh  from  the  threshing-machine  and  the 
harvest-field. 

The  flour  made  from  flinty  wheat  is  peculiarly  suited  for 
shipment  to  tropical  countries,  where  a  moister  flour  soon  fer- 
ments and  sours.  These  are  excellent  markets,  for  they  are 


AGRICULTURE,  225 

certain,  they  pay  well,  and  there  is  little  competition.  Most 
of  the  flour  now  exported  to  the  West  Indian  Islands  and  the 
Maylasian  Archipelago,  is  of  the  Gallego  and  Haxall  brands, 
which,  because  of  their  dryness  and  strength,  are  worth  from 
twenty  to  fifty  per  cent,  more  in  the  market  than  other  flour. 
California  may  not  be  able  to  supply  the  West  Indian  Islands, 
but  she  certainly  lias  peculiar  advantages  for  supplying  the 
tropical  islands  and  shores  of  the  Pacific.  The  ilintiness  of 
our  wheat  is  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  dryness  of  the  cli- 
mate, and  it  is  about  the  same  in  all  the  wheat-growing  dis- 
tricts of  the  State.  There  is  no  noteworthy  difference  in  this 
respect  between  that  of  the  Sacramento  Valley  and  that 
grown  on  the  immediate  coast.  It  is  all  so  dry  as  to  keep 
well  in  any  climate.  Millers  in  New  York  and  Liverpool 
make  some  objections  to  our  wheat — that  it  is  too  hard  for 
their  millstones ;  but  this  is  their  misfortune,  not  our  fault. 
The  difficulty  is  remedied  by  moistening  the  wheat  before 
grinding. 

Most  of  the  wheat  of  this  State  is  white,  but  it  is  not 
equal  in  whiteness  to  that  of  the  Genesee  Valley,  Oregon, 
Washington,  and  some  other  districts  of  the  United  States ; 
yet  is  superior  to  the  wheat  of  England  and  of  most  Euro- 
pean countries.  The  fogs  give  a  dark  color  to  the  wheat 
grown  at  Half-Moon  Bay,  in  the  Pajaro  and  Petaluma 
Valleys,  and  on  the  Santa  Rosa  plain;  but  in  the  other 
districts  a  uniform  whiteness  prevails. 

Our  wheat  generally  has  a  thin  skin,  and  does  not  make 
much  bran  ;  but  in  the  districts  where  the  skin  is  darkened 
by  the  fogs,  there  also  it  is  thick. 

Most  of  the  Californian  wheat  is  not  well  cleaned.  It  is 
sent  to  the  market  containing  oats,  barley,  chess,  alfalfa- 
seed,  and  dirt ;  and  when  shipped  to  New  York  must  often 
be  cleaned  there  before  it  can  be  ground.  Our  farmers, 
however,  are  gradually  becoming  more  careful  in  cleaning 
their  wheat. 
15 


226  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

In  the  plumpness  and  size  of  the  berry,  our  wheat  compares 
well  with  that  of  Europe  and  the  Atlantic  States,  but  can  per- 
haps claim  no  decided  superiority.  Comparing  the  different 
districts  of  the  State  with  one  another  on  this  point,  Suscol 
probably  "deserves  the  first  place,  and  Napa  the  next.  In  the 
Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  Valleys,  the  wheat  is  often  shriv- 
eled by  hot  winds,  which  blow  for  three  or  four  successive 
days  while  the  grain  is  in  the  milk,  and  seem  to  blast  it. 
Great  differences  are  observed,  however,  according  to  the 
season. 

The  weight  of  Californian  wheat  is  usually  sixty  pounds  per 
bushel,  seldom  less  —  frequently  sixty-two,  and  sometimes 
sixty-five  ;  thus  entitling  our  State  to  a  high  position  in  that 
respect. 

§  160.  Yield. — The  average  yield  of  Californian  wheat- 
fields  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  bushels  per  acre,  which  is 
about  thirty-three  per  cent,  more  than  in  the  States  on  the  At- 
lantic slope.  An  old  Spanish  book  of  records,  of  the  Mission 
of  San  Diego,  states  that  in  1778  twelve  fanegas  (a  fanega 
is  about  two  bushels)  of  wheat  were  sown,  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty  fanegas  were  harvested — an  increase  of  thirty-fold. 
The  next  year,  sixteen  fanegas  were  sown,  and  the  yield  was 
one  hundred  and  sixty  fanegas.  In  1780,  twenty-four  fanegas 
were  sown,  and  eight  hundred  harvested — an  increase  of 
thirty-three-fold.  San  Diego  is  far  inferior  for  wheat-growing 
to  the  coast  valleys  about  San  Francisco  Bay  ;  and  previous 
to  the  coming  of  the  Americans  the  ground  was  not  ploughed, 
but  only  scratched,  and  the  limb  of  a  tree  was  used  for  a 
harrow. 

Colton,  in  his  "  Three  Years  in  California, "  (page  442) 
states  that  while  the  priests  still  had  sole  control  of  the  missions 
and  mission-lands  previous  to  1833,  the  mayordomom  steward 
of  the  Mission  of  San  Jose,  harvested  4,300  fanegas  of  wheat 
from  40  fanegas  of  seed  ;  and  at  the  next  harvest  he  had  a 
volunteer  crop  of  2,600  fanegas  on  the  same  land.  The  first 


AGRICULTURE.  227 

year,  according  to  this  report,  the  increase  was  107-fold,  and 
the  next  year  65-fold.  At  the  Mission  of  Soledad,  according 
to  the  same  author,  (page  445)  1 ,700  fanegas  were  harvested 
from  19  sown — an  increase  of  89-fold  ;  and  in  1827,  an  increase 
of  58-fold  was  obtained  at  San  Luis  Obispo  by  scratching  the 
seed  in  with  a  harrow  upon  land  unploughed,  and  not  even 
touched  by  the  thing  called  a  plough  in  those  days.  Not  less 
than  half  a  fanega  is  sown  to  the  acre ;  so  we  may  suppose 
that  the  figures  which  indicate  the  increase  of  the  crop  over 
the  seed,  also  indicate  the  number  of  bushels  to  the  acre. 
Now,  a  ten-fold  increase  is  considered  a  fair  crop.  Crops  of 
80  bushels  to  the  acre  have  often  been  grown  in  California. 
Mr.  Hill  harvested  82J  bushels  from  an  acre  in  Pajaro  Valley 
in  1853,  and  obtained  660  bushels  from  10  acres.  In  1851, 
Mr.  P.  M.  Scooffy  harvested  88  bushels,  and  Mr.  K  Carriger 
80  bushels  in  Sonoma  Valley.  In  1853,  J.  M.  Homer  har- 
vested 1,000  acres  of  wheat  near  the  Mission  of  San  Jose, 
with  an  average  of  40  bushels,  some  of  it  producing  60 
bushels  to  the  acre.  The  next  year  he  had  2,000  acres,  with 
an  average  of  40  bushels.  Large  fields  of  wheat  in  Eel  River 
Valley,  according  to  the  report  of  the  assessor  of  Humboldt 
County,  averaged  73  bushels  to  the  acre  in  1857. 

In  the  best  wheat  districts  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the 
farmers  generally  believe,  or  did  believe  a  few  years  ago,  that 
not  more  than  45  bushels  of  wheat  ever  had  been  or  ever 
could  be  grown  upon  an  acre ;  and  when  I  spoke  to  exper- 
ienced and  intelligent  men  among  them  of  60  bushels,  I  was 
told  that  not  more  than  50  bushels  could  possibly  stand  upon 
the  ground.  It  is  almost  impossible  that  there  should  ever  be 
an  entire  failure  of  the  wheat-crop  in  California,  unless  the 
rain  should  completely  fail.  After  wet  winters,  the  dry  lands 
and  hills  will  produce  the  best  crops ;  in  seasons  of  light  rain- 
fall, the  low,  moist  lands  will  take  the  lead.  There  are  so 
many  soils  and  so  many  climates  in  the  State,  that  some  must 
be  favorable.  There  is  no  danger  that  the  grain,  when  nearly 


228  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

ripe,  will  be  beaten  down  by  the  hail,  as  has  happened  in  Europe 
and  the  Atlantic  States.  On  only  one  occasion,  within  my 
knowledge  or  reading,  has  it  happened  that  the  grain  has  been 
"  lodged  "  or  beaten  down  by  rain,  and  that  was  at  Suscol  and 
Napa  in  1860 ;  and  the  damage  then  was  slight. 

§  161.  Cost. — The  richest  grain  land  of  the  State,  that  in 
the  valleys  near  San  Francisco  Bay,  ha§  been  cropped  for 
many  years  without  rest  or  rotation,  and  the  large  yields  have 
become  exceptional ;  and  now  thirty  bushels  to  the  acre  is 
more  of  a  rarity  than  forty  was  fifteen  years  ago.  The  average 
wheat  crop  of  the  State  was  about  seventeen  bushels  per  acre 
in  1867,  eighteen  in  1868,  sixteen  in  1869,  thirteen  in  1870, 
and  nine  in  1871.  In  the  counties  bordering  on  San  Francisco 
the  yield  is  considerably  larger,  but  the  average  for  the  State 
is  reduced  by  the  results  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  where 
large  areas  have  been  cultivated  in  a  shallow  and  cheap  style, 
and  a  dry  and  not  very  strong  soil.  Gang  ploughs  are  used, 
usually  two  or  five  in  a  gang,  sometimes  six,  eight,  or  even 
ten,  each  cutting  a  furrow  ten  or  twelve  inches  wide,  and 
four  or  six  inches  deep.  A  span  of  horses  is  required  for  each 
plough  in  the  gang,  one  driver  for  the  entire  team.  Frequent- 
ly a  machine  sower  and  harrow  are  attached  behind  the 
ploughs,  and  thus  at  one  movement  the  land  is  broken,  sown, 
harrowed,  and  prepared  for  its  first  harvest.  The  lightness  of 
the  soil,  the  lack  of  a  sod,  and  absence  of  stones,  bushes,  and 
trees,  permits  the  reduction  of  the  land  from  its  wild  state  to 
cultivation  at  very  little  expense — that  is,  after  abundant 
rains  have  come  to  soften  the  earth. 

A  sulky  gang  with  two  ploughs,  each  cutting  twelve  inches, 
drawn  by  six  horses,  will  dispatch  four  acres  per  day ;  while  a 
five-gang  plough,  each  cutting  ten  inches,  drawn  by  eight  or 
ten  horses,  will  dispatch  eight  acres  in  a  day,  only  one  man 
being  required  in  each  case.  The  cost  per  acre  of  ploughing 
large  fields  is  variously  estimated  at  from  forty  cents  to  one 
dollar  per  acre  to  the  farmer  provided  with  horses  and  gang- 


AGRICULTURE.  229 

ploughs.  Generally  the  cost  of  ploughing  in  small  farms  and 
on  the  strong  soils  is  estimated  at  various  prices,  from  two 
to  three  dollars  per  acre. 

The  following  is  an  estimate  of  the  expenses  of  a  wheat 
crop  in  Stanislaus  County,  per  acre  :  ploughing,  $1.25  ;  seed, 
50  cents  ;  sowing  and  harrowing,  75  cents ;  heading  and  stack- 
ing, $1.25  ;  threshing,  $1.25;  rent  $2  ;  sacks  $1.75  ;  hauling, 
$1 ;  total  $9.75.  A  yield  of  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre,  worth 
$25  in  good  years,  would  leave  a  nice  profit.  The  hauling 
varies  greatly  in  different  places,  and  the  prices  and  seasons 
are  so  irregular  that  it  is  unsafe  to  rely  upon  them. 

It  is  a  custom  with  some  farmers  in  the  San  Joaquin  Val- 
ley to  divide  their  land  into  three  parcels.  One  is  ploughed 
and  sown  ;  another,  having  lain  fallow  the  previous  season,  is 
simply  sown  and  harrowed  ;  and  the  third  is  ploughed  to  lie 
fallow.  Another  rotation  of  a  less  prudent  character  is  to 
plough  and  sow  a  third;  let  another  third  volunteer  for 
grain  ;  and  another  volunteer  a  second  time  for  hay. 

Wheat  is  sown  from  the  first  of  November  to  the  first  of 
April.  The  most  certain  crops  are  those  sown  early;  the 
largest  are  those  sown  late  in  favorable  years.  If  the  amount 
of  rain  is  small  or  moderate,  the  earliest  sown  fields  are  the 
best ;  but  if  the  spring  be  wet,  the  early-sown  fields  are  sur- 
passed by  those  sown  about  the  first  of  February.  Wheat  is 
usually  sown  after  barley  and  oats.  The  best  farmers  prefer 
to  sow  between  New  Year's  Day  and  the  middle  of  Febru- 
ary. Most  of  the  sowing  is  done  broadcast,  but  drills  are 
used  to  a  considerable  extent.  One  ploughing  is,  by  most 
farmers,  considered  sufficient.  The  harvest  comes  from  the 
middle  of  June  to  the  middle  of  July. 

§  162.  Barley. — The  soil  and  climate  of  California  appear 
to  be  particularly  favorable  to  the  growth  of  barley,  which 
formed,  previous  to  1860,  a  larger  proportion  of  agricultural 
produce  here  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  It  is  a 
hardy  grain,  preferring  a  sandy  or  gravelly  soil,  and  dry  cli- 


230  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

mate.  Three  kinds  are  grown  in  California — the  common, 
the  Nepaul,  and  the  chevalier.  The  Nepaul  and  chevalier  are 
cultivated  to  a  small  extent,  the  latter  chiefly  for  pearl  barley, 
of  which  a  little  is  made  in  the  country.  The  yield  of  the 
chevalier  is  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent,  less  than  that  of  the 
common  barley. 

The  sowing  commences  with  the  first  heavy  rain,  which 
comes  in  some  years  as  early  as  the  first  of  November,  and 
continues  to  the  first  of  April.  The  ground  used  for  small 
grain  bakes  hard  during  the  heat  and  drought  of  summer  and 
autumn ;  and  ploughing  is  not  possible  until  the  rain  comes, 
and  rain  enough  to  wet  the  earth  thoroughly,  at  least  six 
inches  deep.  The  ploughs  are  then  set  to  work  immediately, 
running  from  four  to  eight  inches  deep.  One  ploughing  is 
usually  considered  sufficient.  The  grain  is  sown  according  to 
convenience,  soon  after  the  ploughing,  or  after  the  lapse  of 
weeks,  and  is  immediately  harrowed  in.  The  amount  of  seed 
sown  to  the  acre  varies  from  a  bushel  and  a  half  to  two  bush- 
els. The  sowing  is  usually  done  broadcast,  but  some  farmers 
prefer  the  drill.  Early  sowing  gives  the  best  yield,  if  the 
winter  rains  be  light ;  but  when  the  rains  are  abundant,  the 
late  sown  fields  are  the  best.  There  is  always  danger  that 
small  grain  in  California,  if  sown  early,  will  get  more  rain 
than  it  wants.  The  same  barley  is  sown  early  and  late  ;  our 
farmers  do  not  know  anything  of  "  winter  barley"  as  dis- 
tinct from  "spring  barley  " — a  division  familiar  in  the  Atlan- 
tic States. 

The  harvest  precedes  that  of  wheat :  commencing  in  the 
Sacramento  basin  early  in  June,  and  in  the  Coast  valleys  late 
in  the  same  month.  The  grain  is  all  cut  with  reaping  ma- 
chines, and  is  never  housed,  but  is  threshed  on  the  field,  with 
or  without  stacking.  Sometimes  it  is  bound  ;  frequently  it  is 
gathered  in  a  tight  wagon- bed,  and  hauled  into  a  pile  in  the 
center  of  the  field,  where  it  remains  until  the  threshing  machine 
can  come.  The  rarity  of  rain  from  June  to  October  renders 


AGRICULTURE.  231 

this  course  pretty  safe ;  though  it  has  happened,  on  one  or  two 
occasions  during  the  last  ten  years,  that  grain  in  the  field  has 
been  injured  by  September  rains.  The  same  land  is  cultivated 
year  after  year  in  barley,  without  apparently  exhausting  the 
land  so  much  as  wheat  does.  A  field  near  Gilroy  has  pro- 
duced a  large  crop  of  barley  every  year  since  1853,  with  sow- 
ings only  every  other  year,  and  without  irrigation;  but  when 
the  grain  was  ripe,  hogs  were  turned  in  to  harvest  it,  and  they 
enriched  the  soil  while  they  fattened  themselves. 

Barley  crops  of  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre  are  not  rare.  In 
1853,  a  field  of  one  hundred  acres,  in  the  valley  of  the  Pajaro, 
produced  ninety  thousand  bushels,  and  one  acre  of  it  yielded 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  bushels  !  It  was  grown  by  J.  B. 
Hill ;  was  mentioned  as  undoubtedly  true  by  the  assessor  of 
Monterey  County  in  his  official  report ;  and  a  prize  was  granted 
by  an  agricultural  society  for  the  crop.  The  field  which  took 
the  prize  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  in  1859,  yielded 
sixty-seven  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  field  was  a  large  one, 
and  ten  acres,  (a  fair  sample  of  the  whole)  were  measured. 
The  crop  which  takes  that  prize  is  not  necessarily  the  largest 
crop  in  the  State,  but  only  the  largest  among  those  offered  for 
competition.  No  doubt,  many  larger  crops  were  harvested  in 
1857.  In  1859,  ninety  bushels  of  Nepaul  barley  were  grown 
to  the  acre  by  Mr.  Burrell,  in  Santa  Cruz  County,  but  in  a 
small  field.  Large  amounts  of  volunteer  barley  are  grown 
every  year,  and  the  yield  is  often  excellent.  One  case  is  re- 
ported of  a  field  in  Yolo  County,  which  produced  five  success- 
ive volunteer  crops  of  barley,  the  last  and  least  crop  amount- 
ing to  thirty  bushels  per  acre  ! 

§  163.  Oats. — The  principal  varieties  of  oats  cultivated  in 
California  are  the  Australian,  English,  Bare,  Feather,  Norway, 
and  Tucker.  The  Bare  and  Tucker  oats  thrive  best  on  a  heavy 
soil ;  the  Feather  oat  prefers  a  sandy  loam.  The  indigenous 
wild  oat  of  California  is  never  cultivated  ;  for  although  it  pro- 
duces large  and  tall  stalks,  they  do  not  contain  so  much  weight, 


232  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

or  bear  so  much  grain,  as  the  domesticated  oat.  The  average 
crop  is  from  30  to  40  bushels  to  the  acre,  30  per  cent,  greater 
than  in  the  Atlantic  States.  The  Crescent  City  Herald  reported 
in  October,  1857,  that  Rigg  and  Reid,  in  Del  Norte  County, 
had  grown  125  bushels  of  oats  to  the  acre ;  and  that  John  A. 
Brown,  of  Crescent  City,  had  a  crop  of  157J  bushels  to  the 
acre. 

§  164.  Maize. — Maize  can  be  grown  to  advantage  in  only 
a  few  places  in  California.  Most  of  the  land  is  too  dry,  and 
the  summer  nights  too  cool  for  it.  The  principal  maize  dis- 
tricts are  in  the  valleys  of  the  upper  coast,  from  Russian  River 
to  Humboldt  Bay ;  in  Yuba  County,  upon  the  moist  bottom- 
lands of  the  Sacramento  River ;  and  at  the  Monte,  in  Los  An- 
geles County,  where  the  San  Gabriel  River  sinks,  and  fills  the 
plain  with  moisture.  Sixty  bushels  to  the  acre  is  considered  a 
large  crop  ;  the  average  is  not  over  thirty.  Corn  can  be  grown 
wherever  the  land  can  be  irrigated,  but  this  is  a  troublesome 
and  expensive  mode  of  cultivation,  though  it  is  not  uncommon 
in  gardens  near  San  Francisco.  Green  maize,  grown  in  the 
open  air,  is  in  market  from  June  to  September. 

The  cultivation  of  rye  and  buckwheat  differs  little  from 
that  of  the  same  grains  in  the  Eastern  States. 

§  165.  Potatoes. — The  potato  thrives  wonderfully  in  a 
few  places  in  California,  particularly  at  Bodega,  Tomales, 
and  in  Pajaro  Valley.  The  produce  per  acre  is  perhaps 
not  larger  than  in  Ohio  or  England,  but  the  tubers  are 
larger  and  smoother.  The  average  size  of  those  sold  in  the 
San  Francisco  market  is  probably  fifty  if  not  one  hundred 
per  cent,  larger  than  of  those  sold  in  New  York.  Potatoes 
six  inches  long  by  three  inches  through,  and  weighing  a 
pound,  are  not  uncommon ;  many  have  been  seen  to  weigh 
four  pounds,  and  one  grew  to  weigh  seven  pounds.  I  saw 
a  cluster  that  had  grown  together,  eight  inches  long,  six 
wide,  and  four  deep,  that  weighed  eight  pounds.  A  San 
Francisco  paper  of  December  31st,  1872,  mentions  a  sack 


AGRICULTURE.  233 

of  potatoes — about  1 20  pounds — every  potato  weighing  three 
pounds  or  more.  They  were  from  Pajaro  Valley.  The 
larger  specimens  were  a  foot  long,  four  inches  wide,  and 
two  and  a  half  inches  thick. 

The  soil  at  Bodega  and  Tomales,  the  chief  potato  dis- 
tricts, is  a  light,  sandy  loam,  and  the  mists  from  the  ocean 
supply  the  abundant  moisture  which  the  plant  loves.  The  po- 
tato district  of  Sacramento  County  is  on  the  banks  of  the 
sloughs  of  the  Sacramento  River,  near  its  j  unction  with  the 
San  Joaquin.  The  soil  is  very  light,  warm,  rich  loam,  and  the 
vegetables  grown  there  are  among  the  earliest  in  the  market. 
The  Californian  potatoes  are  mealy,  sound,  and  palatable  ;  yet 
in  the  opinion  of  many  travelers,  inferior  in  flavor  to  those 
grown  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  potato-disease  has 
never  made  its  appearance  in  this  State. 

The  immediate  coast,  at  least  north  of  Point  Conception,  is 
too  cold  for  the  sweet  potato,  which  thrives,  however,  in  the 
Sacramento  Valley,  especially  in  the  lowland  about  the  head 
of  Suisun  Bay.  The  true  sweet  potato  has  grown  here  to 
weigh  fifteen  pounds — much  larger  than  any  I  have  ever  seen 
in  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi.  They  lack  the  mealiness 
and  delicate  taste  which  makes  the  Eastern  sweet  potato  so 
palatable  in  its  season. 

§  166.  Hay. — As  most  of  our  farm  animals  are  never 
brought  under  shelter,  and  never  fed  at  a  trough,  rack,  or 
stack,  the  proportion  of  hay  cut  here  is  much  less  than  in  the 
Atlantic  States  and  Europe — probably  not  more  than  one-half 
as  much.  There  every  horse  and  cow  must  have  hay  through- 
out the  winter,  and  many  of  them  through  the  summer  ;  while 
here  very  few  cattle  are  fed  with  hay  at  any  season  of  the 
year,  and  horses  not  employed  are  usually  turned  out  into  the 
open  plain.  The  hay  of  Ohio  is  cut  in  cultivated  fields  from 
tame  grasses  ;  that  of  California  is  made  of  wild  oats  and  in- 
digenous grasses,  grown  in  the  open  valleys,  or  of  wheat,  bar- 
ley, or  oats,  cut  while  they  are  green,  usually  when  the  grain 


234  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

is  in  the  milk.  If  the  season  threatens  to  be  so  dry  that  the 
field  will  not  pay  for  harvesting  the  grain,  then  the  mowing 
machines  are  started,  and  the  stuff  is  saved  for  hay. 

The  haying  season  comes  about  the  first  of  May.  The  old 
adage  that  "  you  must  make  hay  while  the  sun  shines,"  does 
not  apply  in  California,  for  here  the  sun  shines  all  the  time, 
and  the  haymaker  has  ordinarily  no  fear  of  rain.  It  happened, 
however,  in  1860,  that  a  considerable  amount  of  hay  was  spoilt 
by  the  late  rains  in  June.  The  whole  process  of  hay-making 
in  California  is  managed  by  machinery.  It  is  cut  with  the 
machine-mower,  raked  together  with  horse-rakes  into  wind- 
rows, and  finally  hauled  together  on  hay-sleds,  which  load 
themselves  by  slipping  under  the  heaps  or  windrows.  The 
hand  must  be  used,  however,  when  wagons  are  to  be  loaded 
or  stacks  built.  Hay  is  usually  cured  in  the  windrow.  It  is 
not  .necessary  to  turn  it  by  hand,  as  is  customary  in  the  East- 
ern States.  One  turning  and  one  day  in  the  sun  are  enough, 
when  it  is  raked  together,  and  is  ready  for  the  stack  or  the 
mow.  In  Ohio  a  good  field  of  timothy  will  yield  four  tons  of 
hay  to  the  acre ;  in  California  the  wild  oat  stands  so  thick  in  a 
few  places  as  to  yield  as  much,  but  the  average  crop  is  not 
over  a  ton  to  the  acre. 

Tame  grasses  occupy  at  present  a  very  small  place  in  the 
agriculture  of  California.  Not  one-tenth'  of  the  farms  in  the 
State  have  an  acre  of  cultivated  pasture  ;  and  even  in  the 
largest  farms,  containing  from  three  hundred  to  a  thousand 
acres  under  plough,  it  is  rare  to  find  a  field  of  timothy,  clover, 
or  alfalfa.  The  last  mentioned,  known  also  as  lucerne,  will 
probably  become  the  principal  grass  grown  in  the  State,  since 
it  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  thrive  in  our  climate  and  soil. 

§  167.  Hops. — The  hop  grows  luxuriantly  and  produces 
abundantly  in  California  ;  and  indeed  there  is  good  reason  to 
doubt  whether  any  country  has  a  climate  and  soil  more 
favorable  to  it  than  ours.  We  have  no  heavy  dews  or 
showers  in  summer  to  wash  off  the  dust  which  contains  the 


AGRICULTURE.  235 

strength  of  the  flowers,  or  to  cover  the  plant  with  blight.  The 
failures  of  crops  from  these  causes,  so  frequent  in  England 
and  the  Atlantic  States,  would  never  occur  here.  Not  only 
is  the  crop  certain,  but  it  can  be  cured  with  more  ease  and 
in  better  condition  than  in  other  countries.  The  moisture 
of  the  air  in  England  compels  the  hop-growers  to  dry  the 
flowers  in  the  sun  or  in  kilns ;  and  if  a  rain  fall  upon  them 
while  drying,  they  are  ruined  :  and  they  are  injured  by  both 
the  sun  and  kiln-drying.  In  California,  they  may  be  dried  in 
the  open  air,  under  sheds.:  and  thus  prepared  they  will  be 
superior  to  any  of  the  European  hops. 

§  158.  Tobacco. — The  cultivation  of  tobacco  has  been  at- 
tempted, on  a  small  scale,  every  year  since  1853 ;  but  the 
product  was  so  small,  previous  to  1872,  that  it  was  scarcely 
worthy  of  notice,  and  the  business  seemed  to  have  no  impor- 
tance for  the  future  of  the  State.  Now,  however,  it  promises 
much,  chiefly  on  account  of  certain  discoveries  made  in  the  art 
of  curing  the  plant,  by  J.  D.  Gulp,  who  obtained  patents  for 
cigars  and  chewing  tobacco,  and  transferred  them  to  the 
American  Tobacco  Company,  which  in  1873  had  400  acres 
in  tobacco,  an  area  not  equaled  by  any  other  company  or  cul- 
tivator in  the  Union. 

In  curing  cigar  tobacco,  the  plant,  instead  of  being  hung  up 
vertically  by  the  butt  in  a  barn,  according  to  the  old  method, 
is  by  the  Gulp  method  taken  into  a  close  building,  and  there 
put  in  piles  two  feet  high,  and  allowed  to  remain  ten  hours  or 
more,  until  a  temperature  of  about  1 00  degrees  is  reached  ; 
then  hung  up  horizontally  until  the  surface  moisture  on  the 
leaves  dries,  perhaps  two  or  three  days  ;  then  piled  again  till 
they  reach  a  heat  of  100  degrees,  usually  twenty-four  hours; 
and  hung  ten  days  or  more  till  dry,  and  finally  stacked.  When 
the  plants  are  put  into  piles  the  second  time,  some  leaves  are 
green,  and  others  yellow,  and  the  green  come  out  yellow,  and 
the  yellow  is  converted  into  brown  ;  and  in  the  third  piling  all 
assumes  the  brown  color.  The  stacking  in  bulk,  for  six  months, 


236  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

gives  mellowness  to  the  flavor,  and  brightness  and  uniformity 
to  the  tint.  The  curing,  previous  to  stacking,  can  be  done 
in  six,  and  sometimes  in  three  weeks.  The  fermentation  is  in- 
dispensable, and  to  secure  this,  the  house  must  be  tight,  and 
must  be  provided  with  heating  apparatus,  and  the  tempera- 
ture  inside  must  never  fall  below  seventy  degrees. 

Chewing  tobacco  is  hung  in  the  field,  on  portable  racks,  soon 
after  cutting,  and  allowed  to  remain  a  week  or  more,  till  the 
leaves  are  yellow  in  general  color ;  then  piled  on  the  ground 
two  feet  deep  (for  perhaps  twelve  hours)  till  the  fermentation 
causes  a  heat  of  110  degrees  ;  then  hung  on  the  racks  again, 
until  the  leaves  and  stalks  are  dry ;  and  finally  stacked,  ready 
for  the  manufacturer. 

There  are  two  main  new  ideas  in  Mr.  Gulp's  processes — one 
is  hanging  horizontally,  and  the  other  is  fermentation  in  piles- 
The  advantages  claimed  are  that  the  tobacco  is  better  in 
quality  than  any  other  cured  elsewhere ;  that  it  is  more  uniform 
in  quality,  and  that  there  is  none  of  the  great  damage  that 
frequently  results  from  very  dry  or  very  wet  weather  in  the 
curing  season  in  Cuba  and  Kentucky.  On  account  of  the 
dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  the  old  style  of  curing  would  never 
have  been  profitable  here.  Besides,  under  the  system  of  hang- 
ing vertically,  the  butt  up,  the  sap  in  the  stalk  could  not  run 
into  the  leaves,  and  the  leaves  resting  upon  each  other  could 
not  dry  evenly,  thus  causing  great  losses. 

The  climate  of  California  is  very  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
the  plant,  and  a  large  area  will  probably  be  cultivated  in  tobacco 
in  a  few  years.  The  growing  season  being  much  longer  than  on 
the  Atlantic  side,  the  plant  after  having  been  cut  down  grows 
up  again,  and  thus  produces  two  crops  of  chewing  and  four 
of  cigar  tobacco  from  the  same  stalk.  The  total  average  yield 
per  acre  is  3,000  pounds  of  cured  chewing,  and  2,200  pounds 
of  cigar  tobacco.  The  old  style  of  curing  costs  three  times 
as  much  as  the  Gulp  method ;  the  quality  is  inferior  and  the 
yield  less. 


AGRICULTURE.  237 

§  169.  Cotton. — About  two  thousand  acres  are  cultivated 
in  cotton  in  California.  The  ordinary  yield  ranges  from  250 
to  500  pounds  per  acre ;  and  as  the  price  is  twenty  cents  per 
pound,  the  product  is  much  better  adapted  to  shipment  for 
long  distances,  than  wheat  at  two  cents  a  pound.  The  ex- 
pense of  making  the  crop  is  about  $30  per  acre,  including  $3 
for  rent,  $2.50  for  seed,  $2  for  planting  and  cultivating,  $20 
for  picking,  ginning,  and  baling,  and  $2.50  for  sundries.  As 
the  lowest  yield  in  an  ordinary  season  is  $50  per  acre,  with  a 
good  chance  for  $100,  there  is  a  nice  margin  for  profit.  The 
cultivation  of  cotton  has  been  increasing  steadily  for  the  last 
four  years,  but  its  importance  for  the  future  depends  to  a  great 
extent  on  the  irrigation  works.  When  the  water  is  supplied 
to  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  cotton  will  probably  claim  a  large 
area  as  the  most  profitable  crop. 

§  170.  Kitchen  Vegetables. — The  vegetables  for  the  kitchen 
— such  as  cabbage,  cauliflower,  beets,  parsnips,  carrots,  rad- 
ishes, onions,  melons,  squashes,  pumpkins,  green  peas,  string- 
beans,  tomatoes,  asparagus,  rhubarb,  okra,  cucumbers,  lettuce, 
garden-egg,  and  so  forth — thrive  in  California,  many  of  them 
beyond  example  elsewhere.  Cabbages  weighing  fifteen  pounds 
are  wonders  in  the  New  York  market ;  in  San  Francisco  they 
are  common.  Whole  fields  of  cabbage-heads,  weighing  twenty 
pounds  each,  have  been  grown  ;  and  hard,  solid  heads,  with  no 
loose  leaves,  weighing  forty-five  and  fifty-three  pounds  each, 
are  on  record.  One  cabbage,  which  did  not  make  a  head, 
grew  to  be  seven  feet  wide,  throwing  out  leaves  three  and  a 
half  feet  long  on  each  side.  In  many  cases  the  cabbage  has 
been  converted  into  a  perennial,  evergreen,  tree-like  plant,  by 
preventing  it  from  going  to  seed.  Several  of  these  are  now 
growing  in  the  State,  with  stalks  from  two  to  six  feet  high, 
and  a  foliage  that  grows  through  winter  and  summer. 

The  largest  squash  or  soft-skin  pumpkin  produced  in  Cali- 
fornia weighed  two  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  and  the  vine 
which  bore  it  had  several  others  weighing  over  one  hundred 


238  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

pounds  each  ;  the  total  weight  of  its  fruit  being  more  than 
eight  hundred  pounds !  Elsewhere,  sixty  pounds  is  a  very  large 
pumpkin  or  squash ;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  record  in  the  At- 
lantic States  of  a  greater  weight  than  one  hundred  pounds, 
which  has  been  frequently  surpassed  here.  In  1857,  one 
squash- vine  on  the  ranch  of  James  Simmons,  in  Yuba  County, 
produced  one  hundred  and.  thirty  squashes,  weighing  in  all 
twenty-six  hundred  and  four  pounds  !  In  the  same  year,  J.  Q. 
A.  Ballou,  at  San  Jose,  grew  two  squashes,  weighing  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  and  two  hundred  and  four  pounds  respectively. 

The  largest  Californian  onion  weighed  forty-seven  ounces 
avoirdupois,  and  measured  twenty-two  inches  in  circumfer- 
ence. Our  onions  generally  excel  those  of  the  Eastern  States 
in  size  and  weight. 

Our  largest  red  beet,  (a  mangel-wurzel)  weighed  one  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  pounds — was  five  feet  long,  and  a  foot  in 
diameter.  It  was  three  years  old.  The  first  year  it  grew  to 
weigh  forty-eight  pounds,  and  because  of  its  large  size  was  re- 
served for  seed ;  but  it  disappointed  its  owner,  and,  instead  of 
producing  seed  the  next  year,  merely  kept  on  growing,  and 
reached  the  size  of  eighty-six  pounds ;  and  the  following  year 
got  to  a  hundred  and  eighteen.  Such  beets  can  be  grown  in 
abundance.  A  beet  of  twenty  pounds  is  a  wonder  in  New 
York  or  London  ;  here  it  is  too  common  to  attract  more  than  a 
glance.  Beets  are  frequently  three  feet  long,  so  that  it  re- 
quires no  little  trouble  to  dig  them  out. 

Our  largest  common  white  turnip  weighed,  I  believe,  twenty- 
six  pounds ;  our  largest  carrot,  ten  pounds ;  our  largest  water- 
melon, sixty-five  pounds.  Our  largest  tomato  measured  twenty- 
six  inches  in  circumference. 

Our  kitchen  vegetables,  grown  in  the  open  air,  are  in  the 
market  during  a  greater  part  of  the  year  than  in  any  State 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  We  have  cabbage,  cauliflower,  lettuce, 
turnips,  beets,  carrots,  parsnips,  radishes,  horseradish,  celery, 
green  onions,  leeks,  salsify,  and  parsley,  throughout  the  year ; 


AGRICULTURE.  239 

green  peas,  string-beans,  water-melons,  cantaloupes,  and  nut- 
meg-melons, from  June  to  November ;  tomatoes  from  May  to 
October ;  garden-eggs,  green  okra,  Lima-beans,  and  Californian 
sweet  potatoes,  from  July  to  September;  asparagus  from 
March  to  June ;  and  rhubarb  from  April  to  July — the  months 
being  meant  inclusively  in  every  instance.  These  seasons  for 
the  different  species  of  vegetables  are,  on  an  average,  twice  as 
long  as  the  seasons  on  the  Atlantic  slope  of  the  continent  in 
the  same  latitude.  Our  tables  are  thus  supplied  with  a  great 
variety  of  fresh  and  wholesome  vegetables  throughout  the 
year.  Another  advantage  of  our  climate  is,  that  garden  veg- 
etables may  be  left  in  the  ground  all  winter.  Potatoes  are 
sometimes  not  dug  until  the  first  of  January,  and  turnips  and 
beets  are  usually  left  in  their  beds  until  they  are  to  be  sent  to 
market ;  there  is  never  enough  cold  to  freeze  them.  Potatoes 
are  never  buried,  but  after  they  are  dug  are  piled  up  in  bags 
under  a  shed,  or  are  placed  in  a  storehouse. 

The  cabbage  likes  a  moist  air  and  soil,  and  thrives  best  along 
the  coast,  from  Bodega  to  Santa  Cruz.  The  melons  and  toma- 
toes like  a  warm  climate,  and  thrive  best  in  the  Sacramento 
Valley — and  Putah  Valley,  which  is  tributary  to  it — where 
many  of  the  early  vegetables  for  the  San  Francisco  market  are 
grown 

§  171.  Fruit. — As  a  fruit-growing  State,  California  takes  a 
high  position.  In  this  particular,  as  in  so  many  others,  her 
climate  gives  her  great  advantages.  In  no  part  of  the  world 
do  fruit  trees  grow  so  rapidly,  bear  so  early,  so  regularly,  and 
so  abundantly,  and  produce  fruit  of  such  large  size.  Nor  is 
there  any  other  country  where  so  great  a  variety  of  fruit  can 
be  produced  in  high  excellence.  In  the  matter  of  flavor,  our 
apples,  peaches,  and  strawberries,  or  most  of  them,  are  infer- 
ior to  Eastern  fruit ;  in  the  flavor  of  other  species  we  are  at 
least  equal  to  other  countries.  The  pear,  the  plum,  the  apri- 
cot, the  grape,  and  the  olive,  are  peculiarly  thrifty,  healthy, 
and  productive,  as  compared  with  the  same  kinds  of  fruit  else- 
where. 


240  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

In  the  Califorman  orchards  the  fruit  trees  are  trained  low, 
the  lower  limbs  being  within  a  foot,  or  at  most  two  feet,  of  the 
ground.  Men,  therefore,  do  not  walk  under  the  trees  in  an 
orchard,  or  climb  after  the  fruit.  One  fruit  tree  in  a  hundred 
may  be  trained  high,  not  more.  The  advantages  of  low  train- 
ing are,  .that  the  trees  bear  fruit  earlier ;  the  trunk  is  shaded, 
and  protected  against  the  disease  called  the  sun-scald ;  the 
earth  about  the  roots  is  kept  moist ;  and  the  trees  are  protected 
against  the  wind. 

The  trees  are  planted  from  one-sixth  to  one-half  nearer  to- 
gether in  the  orchards  than  in  the  Eastern  States.  This  is  an 
additional  protection  against  sun  and  wind.  The  ground  is 
ploughed  several  times  every  summer,  and  kept  clean  ;  whereas 
in  the  Eastern  orchards  it  is  common  to  sow  grass  or  cultivate 
vegetables.  Our  apple  trees  are  free  from  the  borers  after  the 
first  year,  and  our  plum  and  cherry  trees  from  the  curculio, 
though  the  plum  suffers  from  the  aphis,  or  louse. 

Fruit  trees  in  California  are  generally  as  large  at  two  years 
old  as  they  are  in  New  York  at  three  and  four  years.  The  in- 
stances of  unusually  rapid  growth  here  are  without  parallel 
elsewhere.  Cherry  trees  have  grown  to  be  fourteen  feet  high 
in  one  year ;  pear  trees  ten  feet  high  ;  peach  trees  to  have 
trunks  from  two  to  three  inches  in  diameter.  These  were  all 
from  buds  on  yearling  stocks,  and  were  well  provided  with 
branches — not  trimmed  to  gain  height.  These  specimens  of 
rapid  growth  were  observed  on  an  island  near  the  junction  of 
the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  Rivers.  At  Petal uma,  a 
cherry  tree  two  years  old  from  the  graft,  and  three  from  the 
seed,  had  a  trunk  seven  inches  and  three-quarters  round ;  a 
plum  tree,  three  years  from  the  seed,  was  eleven  feet  high,  and 
had  a  trunk  seven  inches  in  circumference ;  and  a  peach  tree, 
one  year  from  the  bud,  was  eight  feet  high  and  eight  and  a 
half  inches  round. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Crocker,  of  Sacramento,  wrote  thus  in  December, 
1858  :  "  In  January,  1855, 1  planted  a  small  almond  tree, 


AGRICULTURE,  241 

with  a  stein  little  larger  than  a  goosequill,  and  which  I  cut 
down  within  a  few  inches  of  the  ground.  It  is  now  a  tree 
twenty  feet  high,  sixteen  feet  through  the  top,  with  branches 
starting  from  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  body  below  the 
branches  is  twenty-four  inches  in  circumference ....  A  Glout 
Morceau  dwarf  pear  tree,  planted  in  1855,  when  it  had  grown 
one  year  from  the  bud,  is  now  ten  feet  high,  four  feet  through 
the  top,  and  measures  ten  inches  round  the  body  at  the  ground, 
branching  about  one  foot  from  the  surface.  A  Beurre  Diel 
dwarf,  planted  in  January,  1856,  is  now  seven  feet  high,  three 
feet  through  the  top,  and  ten  inches  in  circumference  at  the 
ground.  A  dwarf  May  Duke  cherry,  planted  in  1856,  is  now 
thirteen  feet  high,  and  thirteen  and  a  half  inches  in  circum- 
ference at  the  ground.  An  Old  Mixon  peach,  planted  in  1855, 
and  cut  down  within  a  few  inches  of  the  ground,  is  now  twenty 
feet  high,  twenty-two  feet  through  the  top,  and  the  trunk 
twenty-eight  inches  in  circumference.  A  seedling  peach,  seed- 
planted  in  January,  1858,  is  now  eight  feet  high  and  well 
branched,  and  the  trunk  four  and  a  half  inches  in  circumfer- 
ence at  the  ground.  The  growth  of  trees,  vines,  and  shrubs, 
is  about  double  that  of  similar  kinds  on  the  rich  prairie-soils 
of  Northern  Indiana." 

In  1858,  a  sprig  of  a  peach  tree,  a  foot  long,  was  stuck  into 
the  ground  on  the  Bay-State  ranch  ;  the  next  year  it  bore  fruit. 
It  may  be  set  down  as  a  general  rule  that,  previous  to  the  time 
of  bearing  fruit,  trees  in  California  make  twice  as  much  wood 
in  a  year  as  they  do  in  the  Middle  States. 

In  Alameda  County,  plum  trees  have  grown  twelve  feet  in 
one  year  from  the  bud. 

The  trees  commence  to  bear  fruit  at  about  half  the  age  at 
which  they  bear  in  the  Atlantic  States.  An  apple  orchard  in 
New  York  begins  to  bear  in  its  fifth  or  sixth  year ;  in  Califor- 
nia, in  its  second  or  third. 

The  variety  of  climates,  and  the  freedom  from  frosts,  severe 
16 


242  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

cold,  and  furious  storms,  protect  us  against  a  failure  of  the 
fruit  crop. 

Our  apples,  pears,  apricots,  and  plums,  are  larger  than  the 
same  varieties  usually  are  elsewhere ;  other  fruits  are  about 
the  same  in  size. 

Dried  fruit  will  probably  in  a  few  years  occupy  a  large  place 
among  the  productions  of  California,  including  raisins,  figs, 
prunes,  plums,  apricots,  peaches,  apples,  pears,  and  currants. 
At  present,  the  Alden  process  of  drying  is  considered  prefera- 
ble to  any  other. 

§  172.  Abundance  of  fruit. — Of  the  temperate  fruit  trees 
California  has  about  4,000,000,  including  2,446,000  apple, 
835,000  peach,  356,000  pear,  243,000  plum,  122,000  cherry, 
78,000  apple,  31,000  nectarine,  and  19,000  prune.  Of  the 
apple  kind,  including  apple  and  pear,  there  are  2,800,000  ;  and 
of  the  peach  kind,  including  peach,  apricot,  and  nectarine, 
930,000,  and  the  two  classes  together  make  up  more  than 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 

Of  the  sub-tropical  fruit  and  nut  trees  we  have  250,000, 
including  59,000  almonds,  58,000  walnut,  50,000  fig,  38,000 
orange,  38,000  olive,  and  7,000  lemon. 

Besides  these,  we  have  26,000,000  grape  vines,  12,000,000 
strawberry  vines,  and  1,000,000  raspberry  bushes.  In  all,  we 
have  37,000,000  trees,  vines,  and  bushes,  bearing  fruits  or  nuts, 
under  cultivation,  covering  an  area  of  more  than  100,000 
acres,  or  nearly  half  an  acre  in  fruit  for  every  man  in  the 
State. 

The  trees  generally  are  healthy  and  in  good  condition.  Our 
cherries  and  plums  are  not  troubled  by  the  curculio,  and  our 
apples  are  free  from  the  worms  which  abound  in  the  Eastern 
orchards. 

§  173.  Grape. — California  is  a  favorite  land  of  the  grape  ; 
and  indeed  many  of  our  vine-growers  suppose  it  to  be  the  best 
grape  country  in  the  world.  The  grape  region  of  Califor- 
nia extends  from  the  southern  boundary,  at  latitude  32°  30', 


AGRICULTURE.  243 

to  41°,  a  distance  of  live  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles  from 
north  to  south,  with  an  average  breadth  from  east  to  west  of 
about  one  hundred  miles.  The  number  of  grape  vines  in  the 
State  is  30,000,000,  including  in  round  numbers  4,000,000 
each  in  Los  Angeles  and  Sonoma,  2,000,000  each  in  Napa  and 
Sacramento,  1,500,000  each  in  El  Dorado,  Solano,  and  Tu- 
olumne,  1,000,000  eaeh  in  Santa  Clara  and  Amado^  and  800,- 
000  each  in  Butte,  Placer,  and  San  Joaquin.  The  basin  of 
San  Francisco  Bay,  west  of  the  Diablo  ridge,  has  9,500,000 ; 
the  low  land  of  the  Sacramento  Basin,  7,500,000  ;  the  coast, 
south  of  35°,  5,200,000  ;  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  has  8,000,000. 
A  large  majority  of  the  vines  are  planted  in  bottom  lands, 
where  the  vines  can  be  started  and  cultivated  with  least  in- 
convenience, and  where  they  bear  most  abundantly. 

§  174.  Large,  vines  and  vineyards. — The  grape  vine  sup- 
posed to  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  grows  at  Montecito,  near 
Santa  Barbara.  It  is  of  the  Los  Angeles  variety,  was  planted 
in  1795,  has  a  trunk  15  inches  in  diameter,  and  its  branches 
are  supported  by  an  arbor  115  feet  long  and  78  feet  wide.  It 
has  in  a  favorable  year  borne  four  tons  of  grapes,  but  is  now 
losing  its  vigor  and  will  probably  not  live  much  longer.  The 
State  has  a  number  of  other  large  vines,  some  of  which  bear 
2,000  bunches  annually,  and  threaten  to  rival  the  old  vine  at 
Montecito. 

The  largest  vineyard  of  the  State  is  that  of  the  Buena  Vista 
Vinicultural  Association,  which  has  300,000  vines  near  the 
town  of  Sonoma.  B.  D.  Wilson,  at  San  Gabriel,  has  200,000 
vines  ;  L.  J.  Rose,  near  the  same  place,  130,000;  Matthew 
Keller,  at  Los  Angeles,  100,000  ;  the  Orleans  Hill  Vineyard 
Company,  in  Capay  Valley,  36  miles  west  of  Sacramento, 
100,000 ;  R.  Chalmers,  at  Coloma,  100,000  ;  S.L.  Wilson,  near 
Sacramento,  75,000 ;  B.  N".  Bugbey,  near  Folsom,  100,000. 
The  figures  for  many  other  large  vineyards  are  lacking.  Most 
of  these  vineyards  are  planted  with  700  or  800  vines  to  the 
acre. 


244  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

§  175.  Varieties. — The  vine  was  brought  to  California  by 
the  Spanish  missionaries,  about  the  year  1770.  So  far  as  i» 
known,  only  one  variety — that  now  known  as  the  Los  Angeles 
grape — was  brought  by  them  in  the  last  century.  It  is  the 
vine  found  in  all  the  old  vineyards,  and  in  most  of  the  new 
ones  south  of  the  bay  of  San  Francisco.  The  berry  is  round, 
reddish-brown  while  ripening,  and  nearly  black  when  fully 
ripe,  about  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  its  largest 
size,  covered  by  a  strong  skin,  possessing  an  abundance  of 
thick  and  very  sweet  juice,  with  little  meat,  but  with  no  fruit- 
iness  of  flavor.  It  has  been  asserted  that  this  grape  is  of  the 
Malaga  variety  ;  but  if  so,  it  has  changed  so  much — perhaps 
while  under  cultivation  in  Mexico,  whence  the  first  cuttings 
that  came  to  California  were  probably  obtained — that  it  no 
longer  resembles  its  parent  stock. 

About  1820,  when  the  missions  were  established  north  of 
the  bay  of  San  Francisco,  a  new  variety,  now  called  the  So- 
noma grape,  and  said  by  General  Vallejo  to  be  of  the  Madeira 
stock,  was  introduced.  It  is  now  extensively  cultivated  in 
Sonoma  and  Napa  Counties  and  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  ;  it 
is  also  found  in  a  few  vineyards  south  of  the  bay  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. The  berry  is  bluish-black  in  color  ;  is  covered,  when 
ripe,  with  a  grayish  dust,  which  brushes  off,  leaving  a  glossy, 
smooth  skin  ;  is  about  half  an  inch  in  diameter  at  its  largest 
size ;  has  a  thin,  sweet  juice,  with  more  meat  and  a  little  fruiti- 
ness  of  flavor. 

The  Sonoma  grape  makes  a  light  wine,  resembling  claret ; 
the  Los  Angeles  grape  makes  a  strong  wine,  resembling  port 
and  sherry.  The  two  grapes  are  classed  together  as  the  "  Mis- 
sion," "  Native,"  or  "  Californian  "  grapes,  and  were  the  only 
varieties  cultivated  here  previous  to  1853.  In  that  year  the 
importation  of  foreign  grapes  commenced,  and  now  about  two 
hundred  varieties  are  cultivated.  The  Mission  grapes  are 
hardy,  healthy,  long-lived,  productive,  and  early  in  coming 
into  bearing  ;  but  they  are  surpassed  in  flavor,  hardiness,  pro- 


AGRICULTURE.  245 

ductiveness,  earliness  of  ripening,  and  earliness  of  bearing,  by 
many  foreign  varieties,  which  are  not  inferior  in  any  respect. 

There  were  probably  two  hundred  thousand  bearing  vines 
in  the  State  in  1848,  and  they  still  continue  productive.  Very 
little  was  done  to  increase  their  number  until  1856,  and  then 
the  business  of  grape-growing  and  making  wine  for  the  market 
was  commenced.  The  new  vineyards  then  set  out  were  planted 
with  Mission  grapes,  the  only  varieties  of  which  cuttings  in 
large  quantities  could  be  obtained.  A  few  foreign  vines  had 
been  imported  in  1853,  '54,  and  '55,  by  nurserymen,  but  there 
was  little  demand  for  them.  When  it  became  clear  that  Cali- 
fornia would  produce  wine  largely,  the  foreign  varieties  came 
into  demand.  It  was  not  until  1859  that  the  superiority  of 
the  foreign  grapes,  as  a  class,  over  the  Mission  grapes,  was  ei- 
tablished  by  trial. 

About  two  hundred  varieties  of  grapes  are  cultivated  in 
California,  including  the  most  noted  stocks  of  Spain,  France, 
Germany,  Hungary,  and  the  Eastern  States.  All  of  them 
thrive  as  vines,  but  most  of  them  do  not  give  satisfaction, 
either  for  productiveness  or  flavor,  and  are  therefore  not  mul- 
tiplied. In  the  Eastern  States  the  European  vines  will  not 
live  in  the  open  air,  the  winters  being  too  severe  for  them  ; 
but  here  we  have  most  delicate  varieties  from  Spain  and  Mo- 
rocco, side  by  side  with  the  Catawba  and  Isabella. 

Flavor  is  a  matter  of  vast  importance  in  fresh  fruit,  and 
the  want  of  it  is  the  great  defect  of  the  Mission  grape,  which 
will  not  command  more  than  one-third  of  the  price  of  the 
best  foreign  varieties  in  the  San  Francisco  market.  For  wine, 
the  foreign  grape  has  an  equal  or  still  greater  advantage. 
Flavor  and  fruitiness  are  not  less  needed  there  than  in  fruit  to 
be  eaten  fresh  at  the  table.  The  lack  of  delicate  flavor  is  one 
defect  of  the  wine  made  from  the  Californian  grape,  and  the 
evil  can  only  be  remedied  by  the  use  of  the  foreign  stock. 

For  wine,  the  Zinfindel,  Berger,  Riessling,  Black  Malvoisie, 
'German  Muscat,  French  Muscat  (of  Frontignan),  Burgundy, 


246  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Golden  Chasselas,  and  Fontainebleau  Chasselas,  are  in  most 
favor.  The  white  Muscat  makes  the  best  raisins  ;  the  French 
Muscat  the  best  vinegar.  We  have  no  statistics  of  the  differ- 
ent kinds ;  but  most  of  the  vineyards  planted  in  the  last  seven 
years  are  of  European  varieties,  which  now  probably  amount 
to  more  than  one-fourth  of  all  the  vines  in  the  State. 

For  the  table  and  for  raisins,  the  Muscat  of  Alexandria  is 
more  prized  here  than  any  other  grape,  on  account  of  its 
large  size,  and  rich,  spicy  flavor.  It  does  best  on  a  gravelly 
loam,  mixed  with  a  little  clay,  and  bears  very  poorly  in  rich 
clay  loam  without  sand  or  gravel.  The  most  productive  Mus- 
cat vines  are  in  the  Sonoma  Valley.  In  good  years  it  yields 
9,000  pounds  to  the  acre,  and  the  average  wholesale  price  is  7 
cents  per  pound,  making  a  gross  yield  of  $350  per  acre,  of 
which  $50  may  be  counted  for  cultivation,  picking,  and  send- 
ing to  market.  One  of  the  chief  objections  to  this  grape  is  that 
in  many  places  it  does  not  "  set "  well,  and  then  the  only  way 
to  secure  a  good  crop  is  to  pull  off  some  of  the  blossoms,  and 
shake  the  pollen  over  other  blossoms  which  are  left  to  bear. 
The  vine  generally  starts  out  to  produce  two  crops  every  sea- 
son, but  the  careful  vineyardist  plucks  off  the  second  set  of 
blossoms,  for  otherwise  neither  crop  would  ripen  properly. 
The  Alexandrian  Muscat  is  the  only  grape  that  is  good  for 
wine,  first-rate  for  the  table,  for  raisins,  and  for  long  transpor- 
tation. 

The  Flame  Tokay  is  prized  for  its  fine  appearance,  and  for 
its  excellent  keeping  qualities ;  but  it  is  useless  for  wine,  and 
has  little  flavor.  It  bears  more  than  the  Muscat  of  Alexandria, 
and  has  hitherto  commanded  the  same  price  in  the  market. 
It  may  come  into  demand  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  Queen 
of  Nice  differs  so  little  from  the  Flame  Tokay,  that  by  many 
it  is  regarded  as  the  same  grape. 

The  Rose  of  Peru  is  a  large  firm  grape,  of  fine  flavor,  yield- 
ing in  good  years  12,000  pounds  to  the  acre.  The  price  is 
about  6  cents  per  pound,  but  the  inferior  price  is  compensated 


AGRICULTURE.  247 

for  by  the  superior  yield  as  compared  with  the  varieties  previ- 
ously mentioned.  The  Black  Hamburg  is  large,  fine  in  flavor, 
and  well  suited  to  transportation,  but  inferior  to  the  Rose  of 
Peru.  The  Isabella  and  Catawba,  several  Muscatels,  and 
some  varieties  of  the  Chasselas,  are  good  for  the  table,  but 
they  do  not  bear  shipment  well.  The  Zinfindel,  Malvoisie, 
Riessling,  Black  Burgundy,  and  Traminer,  are  excellent  for 
wine,  but  are  not  in  demand  for  the  table.  The  Mission 
grape,  especially  when  grown  in  the  Los  Angeles  district,  is 
very  rich  in  sugar  if  plucked  soon  after  ripening ;  and  if  left 
on  the  vine  till  November,  the  sugar  changes  to  spirit,  so  that 
it  becomes  highly  vinous,  and  is  for  that  reason  preferred  by 
some  persons ;  but  it  could  not  be  transported  from  the  South- 
ern Coast  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  with  profit,  although  it 
could  be  obtained  in  any  quantity  at  2  cents  per  pound. 

§  176.     Advantages. — The  advantages  of  California  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  grape  are  the  following  : 

1.  Californian  vineyards  produce  ordinarily  twice  as  much 
as  the  vineyards  of  any  other  grape  district,  if  general  report 
be  true.     Here,  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  grapes  per  acre 
is  a  crop  as  common  as  six  thousand  in  France,  Germany,  or 
Ohio.     Why  our  vineyards  should  produce  so  much  more  than 
those  elsewhere   I  know    not,  but   the  fact  is  indubitable. 
Crops  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  per  acre  have  been  seen  here. 

2.  The  grape  crop  seldom  fails,  as  it  does  in  every  other 
country.     This  is  owing  partly  to  the  fact  that  we  have  no 
severe  frosts,  no  hail,  and  no  storms  of  rain  and  electricity 
from  the  time  the  vine  buds  until  the  grape  is  gathered,  each 
of  which  often   causes  a  total  loss  of  the  crops  in  Europe. 
There  is  abundant  time  for  gathering  the  grape  ;  while  in  other 
vine  countries  the  rain  and  frost  destroy  the  fruit  after  it  is 
ripe.    The  oidium — the  disease  which  has  done  such  great 
damage  in  France — appeared  in  1859,  but  has  done  little  in- 
jury here.     Certain  kinds  of  bugs  and  insects,  which  do  much 
harm  in  European  vineyards,  have  never  appeared  in  Cali- 
fornia. 


248  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

3.  Vineyards  in  other  countries  require  more  labor  than  ID 
California.     In  Europe,  the  vine  is  trained  with  a  stalk  four 
feet  high,  and  supported  by  a  pole,  which  has  to  be  set  down 
every  year,  and  to  which  the  vine  is  tied.     Here  the   stalk 
stands  alone. 

4.  The  equability  and  warmth  of  the  climate  render  it  easy 
to  make  wine  by  fermentation  without  artificial  heat,  whereas, 
in  many  other  grape  countries,  fires  must  be  kept  up  in  the  cel- 
lars through  the  winter. 

5.  The  great  variety  of  grapes  which  thrive  here  as  com- 
pared with  eveiy  other  grape  country. 

The  disadvantages  of  California  consist  in  the  high  price  of 
labor,  the  bad  situation  of  many  of  the  vineyards,  the  igno- 
rance of  the  people  of  the  arts  of  wine-growing  and  wine-mak- 
ing, and  the  dearness  of  casks. 

Land  suitable  for  vineyards  costs  from  twenty  to  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  acre,  whereas  it  is  worth  from  two  to  four 
hundred  in  France ;  but  there  is  a  counterbalancing  difference 
in  the  interest  of  money. 

§  177.  Vine-planting. — The  vine  likes  a  sandy  or  gravelly 
(not  very  moist)  soil,  and  never  thrives  in  wet,  loamy,  or  stiff 
clay  soil.  In  California,  nearly  all  the  vineyards  are  planted 
on  flat  land ;  in  Europe,  hills  are  preferred,  and  in  Germany 
the  name  for  a  vineyard  is  "  weinberg  " — a  vine-hill. 

Vineyards  are  planted  with  cuttings  or  with  rooted  vines. 
The  cuttings  are  obtained  at  the  annual  pruning  in  January  or 
February,  are  about  thirty  inches  long,  and  are  all  of  wood 
less  than  a  year  old.  They  should  be  taken  from  vines  not 
less  than  four  years  old.  The  rooted  vines  are  cuttings  which 
are  planted  in  the  nursery  and  allowed  to  grow  there  through 
one  season.  These  latter  may  be  planted  out  from  November 
to  March,  inclusive  ;  cuttings  from  January  to  March.  It  is 
not  usual  to  plough  more  than  once  before  planting,  but  sev- 
eral ploughings  would  be  better.  The  vines  are  planted  either 
six  and  a  half  or  eight  feet  apart  each  way  :  the  former  dis- 


AGRICULTURE.  249 

tance,  giving  one  thousand  vines  to  the  acre,  is  customary  at 
Los  Angeles  ;  the  latter,  giving  six  hundred  and  eighty  vines 
to  the  acre,  is  preferred  in  Sonoma  and  Napa.  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  regularity  in  the  vineyards  planted  of  late  years  ;  in 
some  places  the  rows  are  five  feet  apart,  and  the  vines  three 
feet  apart  in  the  row.  The  plough  is  always  used  in  cultiva- 
tion, and  it  requires  six  feet  for  convenience  of  handling.  The 
cuttings  are  set  a  foot  or  two  feet  deep,  perpendicularly,  leaving 
three  or  four  inches  with  two  buds  above  the  surface.  The  holes 
are  usually  made  with  a  crowbar,  and  after  the  vine  is  thrust 
down  into  it,  a  little  loose  sand  or  pulverized  dirt  is  poured  in 
to  fill  up  the  hole.  Sometimes  holes  are  dug  with  the  spade. 
Unless  the  ground  is  moist,  the  newly-planted  vineyard  is  irri- 
gated, if  water  can  be  obtained  readily ;  for  the  vine,  when 
taking  root,  likes  water.  During  the  first  year  after  planting, 
the  vine-grower  has  nothing  to  do  save  to  plough  several  times, 
and  to  hoe  down  such  weeds  as  cannot  be  reached  with  the 
plough  ;  and  to  irrigate  twice  if  he  has  water.  The  cuttings,  if 
properly  set,  will  all  grow  in  a  favorable  season  without  irri- 
gation ;  but  a  supply  of  water  about  a  month  after  the  last 
good  rain,  and  another  supply  a  month  later,  will  double  the 
growth  of  their  roots. 

There  is  very  little  growth  of  wood  the  first  year,  but  it  fre- 
quently happens  that  cuttings  bear  grapes — one  bunch,  it  may 
be,  to  a  dozen  vines.  Rooted  vines  do  not  bear  the  first  year. 
The  next  year  the  ground  should  be  kept  loose  and  clean  by 
ploughing  and  hoeing  twice  or  thrice.  Any  suckers  springing 
out  from  buds  beneath  the  surface  must  be  broken  off,  and  a 
little  pruning  is  done.  In  pruning,  regard  is  had  to  the  form 
which  the  stalk  is  to  have. 

The  vine  bears  fruit  on  new  wood ;  that  is,  on  twigs  pro- 
duced in  the  same  season  with  the  grape.  All  the  twigs  are 
cut  off  every  year,  leaving  a  bare  stalk.  In  the  old  vineyards 
of  California  the  stalks  are  from  three  to  five  feet  high.  Of 
late,  the  more  general  custom  is  to  make  the  stalks  about  fif- 


250  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

teen  inches  high.  It  is  observed  that  the  nearer  the  grapes  to 
the  ground,  the  earlier  they  ripen,  and  the  less  liable  they  are 
to  injury  from  frost  and  wind.  The  strongest  shoot  is  selected 
to  make  the  stalk,  and  it  is  tied  to  a  little  stake  stuck  into  the 
ground  at  its  side,  and  the  other  shoots  are  cut  off.  It  is  a 
matter  of  importance  to  use  the  stake  so  that  the  vines  may 
grow  straight  up.  Vineyards  planted  with  cuttings  bear  no 
grapes  the  second  year ;  those  planted  with  rooted  vines  may 
bear  a  few. 

The  third  year,  the  ploughing  and  hoeing  is  the  same  as  th  e 
second.  More  attention  must  be  given  to  the  pruning.  All 
the  twigs  are  cut  off  save  two  or  three,  which  sprout  from  the 
top  of  the  stalk,  and  these  are  pruned  so  as  to  leave  but  two 
buds  on  each,  which  are  to  produce  all  the  wood  and  fruit  of 
the  season.  This  year  the  vines  should  produce  three  or  four 
pounds  of  grapes  each  ;  some  vineyards  have  averaged  twelve 
pounds  to  the  stalk  the  third  year. 

The  fourth  year,  the  .five  or  six  twigs  all  starting  from  the 
top  of  the  stalk,  are  left  with  two  eyes  each ;  and  this  year  the 
yield  should  be  six  or  eight  pounds  per  vine.  The  fifth  year, 
there  should  be  seven  or  eight  twigs,  with  two  eyes  each,  and 
the  grape-yield  should  be  ten  pounds  per  vine.  The  sixth  year, 
the  vine  is  in  full  growth,  and  there  should  be  eight  or  ten 
twigs,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  pounds  of  fruit  per  vine.  About 
the  fortieth  year  the  vine  begins  to  decay.  After  the  third  or 
fourth  year,  if  the  vine  has  been  well  trained,  it  needs  no  stake 
for  support,  but  stands  alone. 

All  vineyards  do  better  with  irrigation  during  the  first  three 
years ;  many  of  them  do  better  without  it  afterwards.  On 
the  coast,  south  of  35°,  most  of  the  old  vineyards  are  irrigated  ; 
and  nearly  all  of  them  are  planted  in  places  where  they  can 
be  irrigated. 

§  178.  Wine  Yield.— According  to  the  State  Reports,  the 
total  production  of  Califorman  wine  was  4,542,000  gallons 
in  1871;  3,700,000  in  1870;  2,000,000  in  1869  ;  2,600,000  in 


AGRICULTURE.  251 

1868;  1,800,000  in  1867;  800,000  in  1863 ;  and  400,000  in 
1860.  The  yield  in  some  vineyards  has  been  a  gallon  to  the 
vine,  but  we  could  make  a  gallon  to  two  vines  without  de- 
ducting anything  for  the  late  plantings ;  so  that  really  the 
State  has  the  capacity  to  make  13,000,000  gallons  of  wine  in 
a  year.  At  present,  however,  many  of  the  grapes  are  eaten  at 
the  table ;  others  are  converted  into  brandy,  strong  wine,  raisins, 
syrups,  and  vinegar,  and  some  have  been  allowed  to  go  to 
waste.  Many  new  vineyards  have  come  into  bearing  within 
the  last  five  years,  and  the  owners  have  neither  learned  how  to 
make  wine,  nor  found  a  market  for  it  after  it  is  made ;  so  that, 
though  there  has  been  a  rapid  increase  absolutely  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wine,  yet  in  relation  to  the  supply  of  grapes  there 
has  been  a  decrease.  Of  the  3,700,000  gallons  made  in  1870, 
Los  Angeles  supplied  1,000,000;  Sonoma,  750,000;  Napa, 
297,000  ;  Solano,  284,000  ;  Placer  and  Sacramento,  each  170,- 
000  ;  Calaveras,  136,000  ;  and  Santa  Barbara  and  El  Dorado, 
each  100,000. 

§  179.  Wine-making. — The  making  of  wine  is  considered 
a  branch  of  agriculture.  Grapes  cannot  be  transported  far 
without  much  loss  and  expense,  and  usually  those  intended  for 
wine  are  pressed  in  the  vineyard  where  they  are  grown.  A 
few  persons  having  vineyards  of  their  own,  and  being  provided 
with  machinery  and  cellar-room,  buy  the  grapes  from  adjacent 
vineyards  not  so  well  supplied.  In  all  wine  countries  it  is  the 
general  custom  that  the  owners  of  the  vineyards  should  press 
the  grapes,  and  take  care  of  the  must  until  it  has  passed 
through  its  first  fermentation.  Here  they  do  not  sell  the  wine 
until  it  is  at  least  six  months  old. 

Wine-making  commences  with  the  ripening  of  the  grapes, 
about  the  middle  of  September.  -The  berry  is  considered  to 
be  fully  ripe  when  the  heart  has  taken  a  tinge  resembling  the 
darkness  of  the  skin  ;  when  the  berry  is  perfectly  sweet,  and 
comes  oft*  easily  from  the  stem,  leaving  no  juice  upon  it ;  and 
when,  on  holding  a  bunch  up  to  the  sun,  the  fibers  running 
from  the  stem  into  the  berry  are  nearly  or  quite  invisible. 


252  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  branches  are  cut  off  with  a  knife,  (after  the  dew  or  fog, 
if  any,  has  been  dispelled)  put  into  a  basket,  and  carried  to  the 
press.  Here  the  rotten  and  unripe  berries  should  be  picked 
out  before  the  bunches  are  thrown  upon  a  coarse  wire  sieve. 
A  man  presses  the  bunches  upon  this  sieve,  through  which  the 
grapes  fall,  some  broken  and  others  unbroken,  while  the  large 
stems  and  leaves  will  not  pass,  and  are  thrown  away.  Below 
the  sieve  is  the  masher,  composed  of  two  rollers,  ten  inches  in 
diameter  and  three  feet  long,  made  of  iron  or  wood.  These 
rollers,  turning  toward  each  other,  crush  the  berries,  but  do 
not  bruise  the  seeds,  which,  if  crushed,  would  give  a  bitter 
taste  to  the  wine.  In  large  establishments  a  machine  called  a 
stemmer  is  used  to  tear  the  berries  from  the  stalks  before  they 
go  to  the  masher ;  and  the  grapes  are  thrown  from  a  wagon 
with  a  pitchfork  into  a  hopper  that  feeds  the  stemmer. 

The  stemmer  and  masher  together  crush  all  the  grapes,  and 
the  best  part  of  the  juice  is  liberated  before  the  press  is  reached ; 
and  that  which  runs  first  from  the  grape  is  better  than  the 
last  squeezings.  Usually  the  fresh  j  uice  of  all  grapes  is  free 
from  color ;  and  when  red  wine  is  to  be  made,  the  crushed 
grapes,  as  they  come  from  the  masher,  are  thrown  with  their 
juice  into  a  vat,  and  allowed  to  stand  six  or  eight  days,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  the  alcohol  formed  by  fermentation  has 
dissolved  the  resinous  coloring  matter  in  the  skin  of  the  grape, 
and  then  the  pressing  can  be  done. 

§  180.  Fermentation. — After  the  pressing,  the  red  and 
white  wines  are  treated  in  the  same  manner.  The  juice  is  put 
into  large  casks,  usually  those  of  one  hundred  and  forty  gallons 
each,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifteen  gallons  are  put  in 
each.  The  casks  are  thus  not  filled  entirely,  but  a  consider, 
able  surface  of  the  wine  is  left  exposed  to  the  air.  This  is  to 
favor  fermentation,  to  which  the  atmosphere  is  necessary.  The 
cask  lies  upon  its  side,  the  bunghole  is  left  open,  and  in 
three  or  four  days  the  fermentation  begins ;  in  three  or  four 
more,  its  period  of  greatest  "activity  has  passed.  The  temper- 


AGRICULTURE.  253 

ature  is  a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance  to  fermentation, 
the  proper  degree  being  about  65°  Fahrenheit ;  and  if  the  liquid 
be  kept  either  warmer  or  colder  than  that  figure,  it  will  be  in 
great  danger  of  spoiling.  The  fermentation  is  accompanied  by 
a  rising  of  little  air-bubbles  to  the  surface,  where  they  burst, 
making  a  noise  that  may  be  heard  by  applying  the  ear  to  the 
bunghole,  and  which  is  sometimes  so  loud  as  to  be  heard  in  the 
cellar  at  a  distance  of  ten  or  twenty  feet  from  the  barrel. 

After  the  fermentation  has  been  in  progress  three  or  four 
days,  the  wine-maker  pours  in  six  or  eight  gallons  of  fresh 
juice  every  day,  until  the  cask  is  full ;  and  for  several  days 
after  that  he  leaves  the  bunghole  still  open,  and  throws  out 
all  scum  that  rises  to  the  surface  there.  When  the  scum  has 
ceased  to  rise,  the  barrel  is  closed,  and  not  disturbed  for  a  pe- 
riod which  should  not  be  less  than  three  weeks  nor  more  than 
three  months.  After  this,  comes  the  "  racking  off."  All  the 
liquor,  except  about  four  inches  at  the  bottom,  containing  sedi- 
ment, is  drawn  off  through  a  syphon,  or  a  cock  placed  above 
the  level  of  the  sediment.  The  remainder  is  filtered  through 
a  doubled  cotton  cloth,  and  is  then  poured  in  with  the  clear 
liquor,  or  used  in  making  brandy.  The  sediment  deposited  in 
the  bottom  of  the  cask  within  the  first  three  months,  is  about 
one-twentieth  in  weight  of  the  juice  as  it  comes  from  the  press. 
After  the  first  racking,  the  new  cask  is  filled  up,  the  bung  is 
put  in,  and  the  wine  is  not  disturbed  till  March  or  April,  when 
it  begins  to  feel  a  more  lively  fermentation,  for  that  process 
never  ceases  entirely. 

It  is  said  that  the  wine  sympathizes  with  the  vine,  and  that 
whenever  the  latter  is  in  active  development,  the  former  feels 
a  peculiar  impulse  also.  Thus,  the  periods  when  the  vine 
sprouts  in  March  or  April,  when  it  blossoms  in  June,  and  when 
the  grape  ripens  in  September,  are  also  the  times  when  the  fer- 
mentation is  the  most  active.  At  those  seasons  the  bungs 
must  be  taken  off,  or  at  least  loosened,  and  the  barrels  must 
not  be  moved. 


254  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

It  is  an  important  point  with  wine-makers  to  avoid  disturb- 
ing the  process  of  fermentation.  Between  times,  when  the 
wine  is  at  rest,  it  should  be  racked  off,  and  placed  in  a  clean 
cask.  At  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half,  good,  dry,  still  wine 
has  become  clear ;  but  it  continues  to  grow  better  with  age  for 
about  a  score  of  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period  it 
has  acquired  a  mellowness  and  delicacy  of  flavor,  and  an  oili- 
ness  of  consistency,  which  neither  gain  nor  lose  by  longer 
preservation. 

In  making  wine,  much  depends  on  the  management  of  the 
fermentation.  The  grapes  should  not  be  pressed  until  they 
are  between  55°  and  70°  warm,  and  it  is  very  important  that 
the  first  fermentation  should  not  be  checked  by  cold,  which 
frequently  interferes,  whereas  natural  heat  very  seldom  does. 

§  181.  Kinds  of  Wine. — California  makes  many  kinds  of 
wines,  the  chief  classes  being  the  dry,  the  sweet,  the  still,  and 
the  sparkling,  the  Mission,  and  the  foreign.  Dry  wine  is  that 
in  which  the  sugar  of  the  grape  is  all,  or  nearly  all,  converted 
into  alcohol.  In  other  words,  the  process  of  fermentation  has 
been  carried  through  to  completion.  Claret,  Sauterne,  and 
the  light  wines  generally,  are  dry,  and  they  are  preferred  by 
connoisseurs,  because  they  can  be  drank  in  considerable  quan- 
tities without  either  cloying  the  palate  or  confusing  the  head, 
and  because  it  is  easier  for  the  practised  taste  to  detect  adul- 
terations. 

The  sweet  wines  are  those  which  contain  part  of  their  sugar 
unchanged ;  and,  usually,  fermentation  has  been  arrested  in 
them  by  either  allowing  the  graphs  to  become  over-ripe,  and 
thus  extremely  rich  in  sugar,  or  by  mixing  brandy  with  them. 
The  ordinary  ports,  sherries,  and  madeiras  of  commerce,  are 
sweet  wines,  or  imitations  of  them  ;  though  the  Spaniards  of 
the  Jerez  district,  and  the  Portuguese  near  Oporto,  drink  dry 
port  and  sherry,  whereas  those  wines  designed  for  the  English 
market  are  fortified  with  distilled  liquor.  Sweet  wines  usually 
have  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  alcohol  in  them, 


AGRICULTURE.  255 

whereas  dry  wines  have  ordinarily  from  eight  to  fourteen  per 
cent.  The  larger  the  percentage  of  alcohol  above  ten,  the 
slower  the  fermentation ;  and  when  port  has  twenty  per  cent., 
it  may  be  kept  for  weeks  in  the  open  bottle  in  a  temperature 
of  70°  with  very  little  perceptible  alteration  ;  whereas  a  light, 
dry  wine  will  begin  to  turn  in  a  day.  Our  principal  sweet 
wines  are  the  Californian,  ports,  sherries,  and  Madeiras. 

The  still  wines  are  those  which  do  not  eifervesce  when  the 
bottle  is  opened,  and  they  include  all  the  strong  wines.  The 
sparkling  wines  are  those  which  effervesce  when  the  bottle  is 
opened,  as  sparkling  champagne. 

Sometimes  water  is  thrown  on  the  cheese  as  it  comes  from  the 
press,  and  after  standing  a  couple  of  days  it  is  pressed  again,  to 
make  a  very  light  wine  called  "Piquet." 

Wine  is  defined  to  be  "  the  fermented  juice  of  the  grape," 
and  therefore  "  Angelica  "  is  not  properly  a  wine,  though  it  is 
usually  classed  under  that  title.  It  is  very  sweet  grape  juice, 
preserved  from  fermentation  by  brandy,  and  is  considered  a 
proper  drink  for  ladies,  though  it  contains  twice  or  thrice  as  much 
spirit  as  dry  wine.  There  are  many  ways  of  making  it :  one 
is  to  mix  a  quart  of  brandy  with  a  gallon  of  fresh  grape  juice; 
another,  to  boil  the  grape  juice  down  to  half  its  bulk  and  add 
an  eighth  of  brandy  ;  another,  to  let  the  grapes  shrivel  on  the 
vines,  and  add  a  tenth  of  brandy  to  the  juice,  and  so  on ;  and 
it  is  said  that  some  is  made  without  any  brandy. 

§  182.  Defects  of  our  Wine. — Most  of  the  wines  of  Cali- 
fornia are  strong,  lacking  in  delicacy  of  flavor.  The  climate 
in  the  Sacramento  basin,  and  on  the  coast,  south  of  35°,  is  so 
warm  that  light  wine  cannot  be  made  conveniently.  After 
ripening  commences,  it  proceeds  so  rapidly  that  before  much 
work  can  be  done,  an  excess  of  sugar  is  produced.  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  Italy  make  strong  wines,  while  the  valleys  of 
the  Garonne,  Marne,  and  Rhine,  farther  north,  supply  a  lighter 
article.  The  correction  of  this  evil  is  to  commence  pressing  as 
soon  as  possible  after  a  sufficient  quantity  of  sugar  has  been 


256  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

developed  to  give  eight  or  ten  per  cent,  of  spirit  in  the  wine. 
The  defects  of  flavor  are  partly  owing  to  the  bad  situation  of 
the  vines,  their  bad  quality,  or  the  bad  management  of  fer- 
mentation. The  low  lands  in  which  most  of  the  vineyards  are 
planted,  though  they  can  be  cultivated  with  little  trouble  and 
produce  most  abundantly,  will  not  give  the  best  wine.  The 
hills  are  better  for  quality,  though  worse  for  quantity.  The 
main  stock  of  our  vines  is  of  the  Mission  variety,  which  bears 
abundantly,  and  yields  a  berry  rich  in  sugar,  sometimes  turn- 
ing partly  to  alcohol  on  the  vine,  so  that  a  person  with  a  sen- 
sitive stomach  will  get  dizzy  from  eating  a  large  bunch  of 
grapes  ;  but  it  lacks  aroma  and  tartness,  both  of  which  are 
necessary  to  high  excellence.  Many  of  the  foreign  varieties 
contain  less  sugar,  more  aroma,  and  more  tartaric  acid ;  and 
they  are  gradually  replacing  the  others,  being  set  out  in  all  the 
new  vineyards,  and  in  some  places  being  used  for  grafting  the 
old  ones.  The  defects  of  fermentation  are  chargeable  to  lack 
of  experience  and  of  good  cellars. 

The  cellar  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  the  wine- 
maker.  From  the  moment  when  the  grape  juice  comes  from 
the  press  until  the  wine  is  brought  upon  the  table  to  be  drunk, 
it  should  be  kept  in  a  cellar  ;  and  it  is  only  in  a  cellar  that  the 
equability  and  coolness  of  temperature  proper  to  favor  fermen- 
tation can  be  obtained.  In  France  and  Germany,  it  is  often 
necessary  to  have  fires  in  the  cellars  ;  and  it  would  be  well  to 
have  them  occasionally  in  California.  Indeed,  wine-makers 
generally  have  no  cellars,  but  only  houses.  In  Los  Angeles 
County,  much  of  the  wine  is  kept  in  adobe  houses.  The  sandi- 
ness  of  the  land,  the  frequent  irrigation,  and  the  proximity 
of  the  vines  to  the  places  where  the  wine  is  stored,  would  lead 
to  the  filling  of  deep  cellars  with  water  ;  so  the  cellars  are  dug 
only  three  or  four  feet  into  the  ground,  and  an  adobe  wall 
three  feet  thick,  and  a  thick  covering,  render  the  cellars  pretty 
cool.  In  Sonoma,  the  Buena  Vista  Society  has  a  cellar  dug 
like  a  tunnel  a  long  distance  into  a  hill  of  volcanic  tufa. 


AGRICULTURE.  257 

While  most  of  the  wine  of  California  does  not  deserve  com- 
mendation, much  of  it  compares  favorably  with  fine  qualities 
of  European  production.  There  are  considerable  quantities  of 
Californian  port,  light  red  wine,  and  sparkling  wine,  that  can 
compare  on  fair  terms  with  good  brands  from  Oporto,  Bor- 
deaux, and  Rheims  ;  and  the  amounts  are  steadily  increasing. 

At  present,  nearly  all  the  best  light  wine  comes  from  Sonoma  ; 
but  I  think  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  a  large  area  on  the 
•coast  mountains  from  Clear  Lake  to  Santa  Barbara,  near  the 
line  between  the  foggy  coast  and  the  hot  interior  climate,  will 
be  covered  by  vineyards  engaged  in  the  production  of  light 
wines  of  fine  bouquet.  * 

§  183.  Sparkling  California. — California  is  now  making 
about  200,000  bottles  of  genuine  sparkling  wine  annually ; 
but  if  her  vineyards  were  protected  by  laws  enforcing  the 
principles  of  common  honesty,  and  not  oppressed  by  prohibi- 
tory taxes  on  the  distillation  of  brandy,  as  at  present,  they 
would  probably  soon  produce  five  times  as  much  wine  as  they 
now  do.  The  champagne  district  of  France  is  not  so  large 
as  the  district  fit  to  produce  sparkling  wine  in  California,  and 
it  makes  20,000,000  bottles  of  sparkling  wine,  and  sells  them 
for  $12,000,000  annually. 

The  business  of  making  the  machine-aerated  sparkling  wine 
is  carried  on  very  extensively  in  the  United  States,  the  pro- 
duction amounting  to  2,500.000  bottles  annually,  or  as  much 
as  the  total  consumption  of  the  genuine  sparkling  wines. 
The  bogus  article  will  not  keep,  and  has  a  bad  name ;  and 
nearly  all  of  it  is  offered  to  the  public  under  fraudulent  labels, 
in  imitation  of  the  favorite  brands  of  champagne.  Of  course, 
men  of  high  character  cannot  compete  with  rogues  in  such 
business,  and  the  result  is,  under  our  present  laws,  that  honest 
men  are  at  a  disadvantage.  So  little  capital  is  required  for 
making  machine- aerated  wine,  that  the  manufacturer  may 
move  his  establishment  four  or  five  times  a  year  to  escape  de- 
tection, and  yet  throw  a  large  stock  on  the  market.  It  is  said 
17 


258  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

that  good  wine  can  be  made  by  machine-aeration,  but  so  long 
as  the  business  is  conducted  fraudulently  as  at  present,  it 
would  be  foolish  to  expect  any  excellence  in  the  product.  The 
wine  is  sold  by  the  forged  label,  and  not  by  its  merit.  We 
want  laws  making  the  imitation  of  a  label  a  crime,  and  requir- 
ing a  stamp  on  imitation  articles  showing  their  true  quality- 
Give  us  proper  legislation,  and  let  us  see  whether  we  cannot 
do  as  well.  The  sparkling  wine  of  our  State  is  now  far  above 
the  average  of  France  in  quality,  and  ranks  little  below,  per- 
haps, half  a  dozen  of  the  best  French ;  and  we  are  fully  pre- 
pared now  to  profit  from  legislation  to  protect,  not  simply  home 
production,  but  common  honesty. 

§  184.  Apples. — The  Spanish  Californians  had  a  few  apple 
trees,  but  they  were  seedlings  of  a  poor  class.  The  first  good 
apples  were  imported  from  Oregon,  in  1849  ;  but  the  varieties 
were  few  and  the  trees  did  not  thrive.  Either  the  stock  was 
not  the  best,  or  the  change  of  climate  had  an  injurious  influ- 
ence on  them.  In  1852  a  few  trees  were  imported  by  way  of 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  ;  other  importations  followed  very  rap- 
idly, and  now  the  State  has  millions  of  trees  in  nursery,  and 
about  eight  hundred  thousand  bearing  trees  in  orchard,  includ- 
ing two  hundred  varieties,  the  best  of  Europe  and  the  Atlan- 
tic States,  both  standard  and  dwarf  trees. 

Apple-trees  are  usually  planted  from  twelve  to  thirty  feet 
apart,  fourteen  or  sixteen  being  the  more  common  distances. 
This  is  much  closer  together  than  is  customary  in  the  Atlantic 
States  :  the  reason  for  the  denser  planting  here  being  to  pre- 
vent injury  by  the  wind,  and  to  keep  the  earth  moist  by  shad- 
ing it  against  the  sun.  The  apple-tree  comes  into  bearing  in 
the  third  year  in  California,  about  two  years  earlier  than  in 
the  Eastern  States.  It  also  grows  more  rapidly,  a  yearling 
tree  here  being  as  large  as  a  two-year  old  tree  in  Ohio.  Grafts 
on  yearling  stocks  have  been  known  to  grow  six  and  eight 
feet  in  a  season — twice  as  long  as  similar  grafts  will  grow  in 
the  Middle  States.  The  fruit  usually  grows  larger  here  than 


AGRICULTURE.  259 

'elsewhere.  The  Gloria  Mundi  apple,  which  elsewhere  seldom 
^exceeds  fourteen  ounces  in  weight,  in  California  frequently 
reaches  twenty  ounces,  and  some  have  attained  the  great  size 
of  two  and  even  two  and  a  half  pounds. 

The  climate  seems  to  have  a  tendency  to  ripen  apples 
more  thoroughly  than  in  other  States.  Those  varieties  which 
are  grown  for  winter  use  elsewhere,  are  here  generally  con- 
verted into  autumn  apples,  and  only  a  few  will  keep  to  New 
Year's  Day.  Our  list  of  winter  apples  is  very  short,  and 
some  years  will  pass  before  we  can  in  this  respect  equal  the 
Middle  States. 

The  flavor  of  our  apples  is  not  equal,  as  a  general  rule,  to 
that  of  the  apples  grown  on  the  Atlantic  slope.  They  are  less 
juicy  and  more  mealy.  Some  varieties,  however,  are  better 
here  than  in  the  Eastern  States.  Great  variations  are  observed 
in  different  parts  of  the  State :  an  apple  may  be  excellent  when 
the  tree  grows  in  the  hot  summer  and  cool  winter  high  up  on 
the  Sierra  Nevada ;  and  be  of  poor  quality  if  grown  in  the 
equable  temperature  of  the  coast. 

The  trees  grow  so  rapidly  and  bear  so  abundantly,  that  some 
persons  suppose  our  orchards  must  be  short-lived ;  but  the  fruit- 
trees  of  the  old  Missions,  many  of  them  forty  years  old,  are 
still  in  excellent  health  and  full  bearing,  and  have  not  failed 
at  any  season  during  the  last  score  of  years  to  produce  a  good 
crop.  The  indigenous  trees  in  our  valleys  have  a  thriftiness  of 
growth  and  a  precocity  of  development  similar  to  our  culti- 
vated fruit-trees,  and  yet  have  a  longevity  equal  to  that  of  the 
similar  species  east  of  the  Mississippi,  where  the  summers  are 
shorter,  the  winters  colder,  the  annual  growth  less,  and  the 
development  of  the  reproductive  power  later. 

The  best  varieties,  so  far  as  ascertained,  about  the  bay  of 
San  Francisco,  are  the  Summer  Pearmain,  Red  Astrakhan, 
Red  June,  and  Early  Harvest,  for  early  apples  ;  the  Porter, 
Gravenstein,  and  Summer  Queen,  for  late  summer  apples  ;  the 
Baldwin,  Roxbury  Russet,  and  Rhode  Island  Greening,  for 


260  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

fall  apples  ;  the  Golden  Russet,  the  Northern  Spy,  the  Yellow 
Newtown  Pippin,  the  White  Winter  Pearmain,  and  the  Spitz- 
enberg,  for  winter  apples.  The  best  cider  apple  is  the  Smith's 
Cider.  In  the  Sacramento  Valley  the  Newtown  Pippin, 
Swaar,  and  Rawles  Jeannette,  are  considered  the  best  winter 
apples;  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  from  1,000  to 
3,000  feet  above  the  sea,  the  Spitzenberg  and  Wine  Sap  are 
preferred. 

Of  the  apple-trees  in  the  State,  there  are  1,100,000  in  Santa 
Clara,  260,000  in  Sonoma,  90,000  each  in  Sacramento,  El 
Dorado,  and  Alameda,  55,000  each  in  Placer  and  Napa,  and 
^x/50,000  each  in  Santa  Cruz,  San  Joaquin,  and  Humboldt. 
Most  of  the  orchards  are  not  profitable,  and  no  large  ones 
have  been  set  out  of  late  years. 

§  185.  JPeackes. — The  peach-tree  grows  very  rapidly,  comes 
into  bearing  very  early,  and  produces  abundantly,  in  Califor- 
nia ;  but  suffers  with  "  the  curl."  The  varieties  most  free 
from  that  disease  are  the  Late  and  Early  Crawford,  the  Late 
Admirable,  and  the  Smock.  In  the  valleys  and  near  the  ocean, 
the  peaches  are  inferior  in  size  and  flavor  to  the  same  varieties 
on  the  Atlantic  slope;  but  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  they  are  fully 
equal  to  the  Eastern  fruit.  The  peach  does  not  thrive  in  the 
high  winds  about  San  Francisco  Bay.  The  trees  are  usually 
set  out  in  orchard  when  one  year  old  from  the  graft  or  bud  ; 
in  the  second  year  after  that,  they  begin  to  bear. 

§  186.  Pears. — The  pear  is  the  most  productive  and  healthy 
of  the  fruit-trees  of  California.  It  thrives  in  all  parts  of  the 
State,  and  everywhere  its  fruit  is  delicate  in  flavor  and  large  in 
size.  There  are  pear-trees  at  San  Jose  which  produce  twenty- 
five  hundred  pounds,  or  forty  bushels  each,  of  fruit  annually. 
The  pear  was  more  cultivated  by  the  Spanish  Californians 
than  any  other  fruit ;  but  their  varieties  were  not  good,  and 
most  of  the  old  trees  have  been  grafted  with  varieties  brought 
from  the  Atlantic  States  during  the  last  eight  years.  The 
varieties  most  prized  are  the  Madeline,  Bloodgood,  Diane 


AGRICULTURE.  261 

d'ete*,  Dearborn's  Seedling,  Seckel,  and  Bartlett,  for  summer 
pears ;  and  the  Winter  Nelis,  Glout  Morceau,  and  Easter 
Beurre,  for  winter. 

§  187.  Apricots  and  Plums. — The  apricot  thrives  well  and 
bears  abundantly,  especially  in  the  warmer  parts  of  the  State. 
The  fruit,  however,  in  some  places,  is  much  eaten  by  bugs  and 
bees.  The  bugs— some  of  them  of  the  kind  commonly  called 
"  Lady-bug,"  and  others  similar  in  appearance  and  size — eat 
holes  in  the  apricots  before  they  are  ripe  ;  and  the  bees,  which 
never  break  the  skin,  eat  at  the  holes  which  the  bugs  have 
commenced.  The  apricot-tree  is  more  healthy  than  the  peach, 
and  produces  more  abundantly  ;  and  its  fruit  supplies  the  place 
of  the  peach  in  many  districts. 

§  188.  Olives. — For  the  cultivation  of  the  olive,  California 
has  great  advantages.  The  tree  is  very  healthy,  and  always 
bears  abundantly  ;  whereas  in  Italy  and  Greece,  whence  most 
of  our  olive  oil  comes,  the  crop  is  frequently  destroyed  by 
summer  rains,  blight,  and  insects,  all  of  which  causes  of  trou- 
ble are  unknown  here.  There,  it  is  expected  that  the  crop  will 
fail  one  year  in  three,  whereas  here  no  failure  has  ever  been 
known.  The  number  of  our  olive-trees  is  small,  many  of 
those  in  full  bearing  having  been  planted  half  a  century  ago. 
Nor  is  it  likely  that  there  will  be  a  rapid  increase.  The  tree 
does  not  come  into  bearing  uutil  ten  years  of  age,  at  least  not 
in  Europe ;  but  it  will  live  and  continue  in  bearing  for  five  or 
six  centuries.  Most  of  the  bearing  olive-trees  are  at  Los  An- 
geles, San  Fernando,  San  Gabriel,  Santa  Barbara,  San  Diego, 
and  San  Juan  Capistrano.  The  olive-tree  resembles  a  willow  in 
the  form  and  color  of  its  bark,  the  shape  and  proportions  of 
its  trunk  and  branches,  and  the  size,  color,  and  distribution  of 
its  leaves.  The  trees  are  grown  from  cuttings  or  shoots,  which 
latter  frequently  sprout  from  the  large  trees  near  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  A  large  olive  orchard  in  full  bearing  will 
prove  an  excellent  income,  for  the  fruit  and  the  oil  are  in  de- 
mand. One  cause  of  the  unwillingness  of  many  persons  to 


262"  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA, 

plant  olives,  is  the  difficulty  in  getting  fine  varieties,  most  of 
the  old  stock  at  the  Missions  being  small  and  bitter,  and  not 
the  best  either  for  oil  or  pickles. 

§  189.  Orange. — The  orange  thrives  and  bears  in  the  Sac- 
ramento Valley,  as  far  north  as  latitude  39°  3p'  ;  but  along  the 
coast  south  of  34°  30'  it  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  trees, 
besides  being  highly  ornamental,  with  its  dense,  glossy  ever- 
green foliage  and  fragrant  blossoms,  and  its  bright,  golden 
fruit,  which  covers  the  trees  for  a  large  part  of  the  year.  A 
good  tree,  ten  years  old,  will  bear  a  thousand  oranges  annually  ^ 
and  the  average  price  of  these,  delivered  at  the  orchard,  varies 
from  $10  to  $30,  or  $500  to  $1,500  per  acre.  Some  trees  at 
Sacramento,  Auburn,  Oroville,  Putah  Valley,  Sonoma,  San- 
Lorenzo,  and  Martinez,  have  borne  well,  bjjt  the  cultivation 
has  not  been  extensive  enough  to  satisfy  farmers  that  large 
orange  orchards  there  would  be  profitable.  More  trees,  how- 
ever, are  being  set  out, 

We  have  no  exact  information  as  to  the  time  when  the  or- 
ange was  introduced  into  California,  nor  from  what  stock  the 
old  orange-trees  came.  Probably  the  first  missionaries 
brought  orange-seeds  with  them  from  Lower  California,  that 
stock  having  come  from  the  indigenous  trees  along  the  west- 
ern coast  of  Mexico.  The  seeds  were  planted  at  various  old 
Missions,  such  as  San  Diego,  San  Fernando,  San  Juan  Capis- 
trano,  and  so  forth.  The  trees  grew,  were  planted  out,  bore 
well,  received  little  attention  or  cultivation,  and  some  of  them 
are  still  standing  as  monuments  to  the  industry  and  enterprise 
of  the  old  friars.  The  orange  is  at  a  disadvantage,  in  being 
unfit  for  drying,  as  grapes  and  figs  are,  or  for  pickling,  like 
olives;  and  its  cultivation  is  exposed  to  serious  drawbacks, 
among  which  are  injury  by  gophers,  ground  squirrels,  and 
scale  bugs,  and  by  dependence  on  an  abundant  supply  of 
water.  No  orange  orchard  thrives  without  irrigation,  and 
several  orchards  in  the  vicinity  of  Santa  Barbara  do  not 
bear,  for  unknown  reasons.  Mr.  Evans,  in  the  Overland 


AGRICULTURE.  263 

Monthly  for  March,  1874,  thus  estimates  the  cost  of  ten 
acres  of  orange  orchard,  in  the  first  year,  viz  :  land,  $300 ; 
fencing,  $300 ;  600  trees,  two  years  old,  $125  ;  planting, 
$300 ;  ploughing,  replanting,  and  other  incidentals,  $200. 
Total,  $1,425.  The  trees  begin  to  bear  at  the  end  of  seven 
or  eight  years,  but  do  not  yield-  a  good  crop  until  two  or  three 
years  later.  The  cost  of  managing  ten  acres  of  orange  or- 
chard, in  full  bearing,  is  estimated  at  $3,130  per  year,  and 
the  receipts  at  $15,000,  leaving  $11,870  profit.  The  soil 
should  be  a  rich,  sandy  loam,  with  good  drainage.  Adobe 
soil  will  not  do.  Mr.  Evans  gives  the  prices  of  trees  in  the  Los 
Angeles  nurseries :  trees  five  years  old  sell  for  $3  each  ;  four 
years  old,  $1.50 ;  three  years  old,  40  to  60  cents ;  two  years 
old,  3  to  20  cents ;  one  year  old,  one-half  cent ;  all  by  the 
hundred.  Imported  oranges  from  the  Hawaiian  and  Society 
Islands  are  picked  before  maturity,  thus  injuring  their  flavor, 
or  suffer  a  loss  of  fifty  per  cent  on  the  voyage,  giving  the  do- 
mestic oranges  a  great  advantage  in  the  market. 

§  190.  Berries. — Raspberries  and  blackberries  were  culti- 
vated extensively  eight  or  ten  years  ago  for  the  San  Francisco 
market,  but  are  now  out  of  favor.  Cherry  currants  are 
grown  with  a  profit ;  of  gooseberries  we  have  few. 

Strawberries  are  cultivated  extensively  in  Santa  Clara 
County  for  the  San  Francisco  market.  The  best  fields  of 
vines  in  their  third  and  fourth  years  will  yield  from  4,000  to 
6,000  pounds  per  acre,  and  the  wholesale  price  in  this  city  may 
be  six  or  seven  cents  per  pound,  making  a  gross  yield  of  $240 
to  $420  per  acre.  The  cost  of  picking  is  2  cents,  of  railroad 
freights  J  cent,  drayage  in  San  Francisco  £  cent,  and  com- 
missions 8  per  cent.  The  amount  received  is  sometimes  from 
60,000  to  70,000  pounds  daily,  indicating  a  lively  consumption 
for  a  city  of  180,000  inhabitants.  The  strawberries  are  mostly 
grown  on  the  shares  by  Chinamen,  who  give  half  the  crop  for 
the  land.  As  the  vines  produce  nothing  the  first  year,  and 
the  Chinamen  are  poor,  the  land-owner  usually  loans  his  credit 


264  RESOURCES  OF   CALIFORNIA. 

for  provisions,  and  clears  $100  per  acre.  Six  Chinamen  do 
the  work  on  ten  acres  of  strawberries,  except  in  the  picking 
season,  when  three  extra  men  are  employed  to  the  acre. 
Strawberry  fields  have  fallen  into  the  possession  of  the  Chinese 
within  the  last  five  or  six  years,  and  the  profits  to  the  land- 
lords are  greater  than  under  the  old  system  of  paying  wages. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  grow  the  berries  profitably  without 
Celestial  help,  and  except  in  a  few  moist  spots  without  irriga- 
tion. 

§  191.  Ornamental  Gardens. — Professional  gardeners  say 
that  California  is  better  fitted  by  nature  than  any  part  of 
Europe  or  the  Atlantic  slopes  to  have  beautiful  ornamental 
gardens.  Our  shrubs  are  more  numerous, grow  larger,  remain 
green  longer,  and  have  a  longer  blooming  season,  than  those 
of  other  States.  The  rose,  the  daisy,  the  pansy,  the  oelys- 
sum,  the  clyanthus  punceus,  the  flowering  verbena,  the  holly- 
hock, and  the  calla,  or  Ethiopian  lily,  bloom  here  in  the  open 
air  every  month  in  the  year.  The  honeysuckle,  metrosideros, 
and  myrtle,  bloom  from  March  to  December  ;  the  geranium 
and  snow-ball  from  April  to  October ;  the  violet  from  October 
to  May ;  the  pittosporum  from  November  to  March ;  the 
spireas  and  flowering  almond  from  March  to  June  ;  and  the 
camelia  japonica  from  January  to  May,  all  in  the  open  air. 
Persons  at  all  familiar  with  the  cultivation  of  these  flowers  in 
New  York,  will  observe  that  the  blooming  season  here  is,  on 
an  average,  fully  double  its  length  there.  Not  only  do  they 
bloom  in  the  open  air,  but  they  retain  their  leaves  through 
most  of  the  winter  months,  so  that  our  gardens  are  never  bare 
and  cheerless,  as  they  are  in  the  Atlantic  winters.  I  have  seen 
a  rosebush  bearing  twenty  full-blown  roses  in  January,  and 
that  in  the  open  air,  with  no  assistance  from  artificial  heat, 
and  no  protection  save  that  of  clambering  up  a  brick  wall  on 
the  southern  side  of  an  unoccupied  house.  Our  roses  are  larger 
as  well  as  more  abundant  than  in  the  Eastern  States,  but  their 
perfume  is  not  so  strong.  The  delicate  European  varieties, 


AGRICULTURE.  265 

which  die  in  the  winter  of  Pennsylvania,  abound  in  our  gar- 
dens. Among  the  favorites  are  the  Pauline,  Malmaison, 
Madame  Laffay,  Model  of  Perfection,  Raglan,  Hopper,  Giant 
of  Battles,  Prince  Charles,  Devoniensis,  Lamarck,  Clara  Wen- 
del,  Glory  of  Jena,  and  Agrippina. 

A  marked  feature  of  our  ornamental  gardening  is  our  ability 
to  cultivate  in  the  open  air  many  plants  which  can  only  be 
preserved  in  this  latitude  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  un- 
der glass,  and  with  the  aid  of  artificial  heat.  These  plants 
are  too  numerous  to  be  all  specially  named  here ;  but  some 
of  the  more  important  are  the  geranium,  fuchsia,  orange, 
camelia  japonica,  laurastinus,  myoporum,  ericas,  casuarina, 
daphne,  eucalyptus,  metrosideros,  and  thirty  varieties  of 
acacia,  twenty  of  them  from  Australia.  It  might  be  al- 
most said  that  we  have  no  hot-houses  in  the  State,  but 
only  green-houses,  for  it  is  scarcely  ever  necessary  to  make 
a  fire,  even  to  protect  the  most  delicate  of  tropical  plants. 
Our  climate  is  very  favorable  to  the  growth  of  evergreens,  es- 
pecially to  those  strange  and  beautiful  ones  from  Australia, 
with  the  graceful  growth,  and  the  brilliant,  feathery  foliage. 

Among  the  creeping  vines  grown  in  California  is  the 
Australian  bean,  which  has  a  dense,  bright,  evergreen  foliage, 
and  abundant  flowers  throughout  the  year.  It  climbs  strings, 
and  is  therefore  well  suited  to  shade  verandas,  and  to  grow  in 
the  front  of  porticoes. 

The  rose,  the  honeysuckle,  the  veronica,  the  oleander,  the 
laurastinus,  the  euonymus  japonica,  and  the  verbenas — espe- 
cially the  lemon  verbena — may  safely  be  said  to  make  twice 
as  much  wood  in  a  year  as  they  do  on  the  Atlantic  Coast.  The 
geraniums  in  San  Francisco  are  almost  trees.  Rose-sprouts 
often  grow  twenty  feet  in  a  season,  and  other  plants  in  propor- 
tion. There  is  scarcely  any  tree  or  shrub  cultivated  in  the  At- 
lantic States  which  does  not  thrive  equally  as  well  here,  except 
the  weeping  willow. 


266  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

California  has  thus  far  furnished  very  little  for  our  gardens. 
There  are  many  singular  plants  in  our  mountains,  but  few  have 
found  favor  with  our  gardeners.  The  ceonothus  is  the  chief  or- 
namental shrub,  indigenous  in  California,  adopted  for  cultiva- 
tion. 

§  192.  Arboriculture. — The  cultivation  of  forest  and  shade 
trees  is  yet  very  limited  in  California.  For  timber  purposes 
the  blue  gum  or  eucalyptus  globulus  is  preferred,  on  account 
of  the  rapidity  of  its  growth,  and  the  strength,  hardness,  and 
durability  of  its  wood.  Several  other  species  of  the  eucalyptus 
are  also  in  favor.  The  black  locust  grows  rapidly,  but  is  in 
some  places  injured  by  insects,  and  it  gives  trouble  by  the 
numerous  sprouts  that  rise  from  its  roots.  In  the  interior 
towns  the  scycamore,  cottonwood,  native  willow,  Lombardy 
poplar,  the  ailanthus,  and  the  Eastern  and  California  maple, 
are  used  for  shade  ;  but  in  the  gardens  near  the  middle  coast, 
where  the  summers  are  not  very  warm,  and  shade  not  much 
needed,  the  Monterey  cypress,  Monterey  pine,  and  Lawson 
cypress  are  preferred,  on  account  of  their  beauty,  the  density 
of  their  foliage,  the  regularity  of  their  growth,  and  their  hardi- 
ness. 

§  193.  Pests  of  the  farmer.— Certain  "  pests  "  of  the  farmer 
must  be  mentioned  here,  among  which  are  the  spermophile, 
gopher,  grasshopper,  locust,  grape-bug,  orange-bug,  army- 
worm,  Canada  thistle,  mullen,  dock,  fern,  and  so  forth.  Of 
the  spermophiles  and  their  habits  I  have  spoken  in  the  chapter 
on  the  zoology  of  the  State.  The  amount  of  mischief  which 
they  do  is  very  great.  The  most  effective  means  of  driving 
them  off  are  poisons,  chiefly  strychnine  and  phosphorus.  About 
a  drachm  of  strychnine  is  dissolved  in  a  quart  of  whisky,  and 
then  the  solution  is  poured  over  dry  wheat,  in  such  quantity 
that  the  surface  of  the  liquid  is  just  on  a  level  with  the  top  of 
the  grain.  In  the  course  of  twelve  hours  the  wheat  absorbs 
all  the  liquor,  and  a  few  grains  may  then  be  thrown  in  front 
of  every  squirrel  hole.  Another  method  of  preparation  is  to 


AGRICULTURE.  267 

cover  a  pint  of  wheat  with  boiling  water,  and  keep  hot  till  all 
the  water  has  been  soaked  up ;  then  pulverize  an  ounce  of 
strychnine,  mix  it  well  with  the  hot  wheat ;  add  two  ounces  of 
brown  sugar,  and  stir  that  up  with  the  mass ;  then  add  four 
ounces  of  corn  meal  to  serve  for  drying  and  covering  the  moist 
kernels.  Wheat  thus  prepared  will  keep  a  long  time  after  it 
is  dried,  and  three  or  four  grains  dropped  in  a  squirrel  hole 
will  have  a  perceptible  effect.  Pieces  of  watermelon  and  of 
sweet  apple,  sprinkled  with  powdered  strychnine  and  placed 
near  the  squirrel  holes,  are  good. 

Phosphorus  is  dissolved  by  hot  molasses  or  water.  The 
molasses  with  phosphorus  is  mixed  with  wheat  and  flour,  and 
small  quantities  of  the  mixture  are  dropped  into  the  holes.  By 
another  method  the  wheat  is  soaked  in  boiling  water  until  it  is 
soft,  when  the  water  is  drawn  off,  and  a  stick  of  phosphorus 
three  inches  long  put  into  the  hot  water,  melts  in  ten  minutes, 
and  the  wheat  is  stirred  about  well,  so  that  the  melted  phos- 
phorus will  touch  every  grain.  Tiie  wheat  is  then  poured 
upon  some  bran,  in  which  it  is  rolled,  so  that  every  kernel  may 
be  covered  ;  and  the  grain  is  ready  for  its  purposes  of  destruc- 
tion. A  couple  of  kernels  will  kill  a  squirrel ;  and  if  a  cat 
eats  the  squirrel,  it  will  kill  him  ;  and  if  a  raven  picks  out  the 
eyes  of  the  cat,  he  will  die  too.  Such  a  progessive  destruction 
has  been  observed  more  than  once  in  California. 

The  squirrels  may  also  be  killed  by  soaking  a  rag  in  kero- 
sene, sprinkling  it  with  sulphur,  setting  it  on  tire,  throwing  it 
into  a  squirrel  hole,  and  filling  the  mouth  of  the  hole  carefully 
with  dirt,  and  of  every  other  hole  where  the  smoke  appears  in 
the  vicinity.  Sometimes  several  burrows  are  connected.  In 
one  case  eighty  squirrels  were  thus  killed  with  one  rag.  A 
bellows  with  a  chamber  for  burning  sulphur  has  been  devised 
for  blowing  poisonous  fumes  into  the  holes.  But  in  defiance 
of  these  ingenious  methods  to  destroy  them,  the  pests  are  still 
numerous. 


268  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  gopher  may  be  poisoned  with  phosphorus  or  strychnine, 
and  may  be  caught  more  readily  with  traps  than  the  sper- 
mophile.  In  the  chapter  on  zoology  I  have  described  the  trench 
used  for  keeping  gophers  out  of  orchards  and  gardens,  and  for 
catching  them. 

The  grasshoppers  are  the  greatest  pests  of  the  farmer  in 
California,  and  several  times  during  the  last  fifteen  years  they 
have  eaten  every  green  thing  within  large  districts.  They 
come  in  millions  upon  millons,  and  darken  the  air,  moving  for- 
ward  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  or  two  a  day,  and  leaving  no  grass 
or  leaf  behind  them.  Grains,  grass,  weeds,  kitchen  vegetables, 
and  fruit  trees,  are  alike  eaten  bare  of  every  green  particle. 
Grasshoppers  are  abundant  in  countries  where  the  summers  are 
dry,  the  winters  warm,  and  the  vegetation  vigorous ;  and  if  a 
large  extent  of  land  be  uncultivated,  they  will  occasionally  be 
so  numerous  as  to  destroy  every  green  thing.  They  are  bred 
in  the  hills  of  California,  and  after  dry  winters  descend  into 
the  valleys,  usually  content  to  eat  the  wild  grasses,  but  some- 
times attack  the  cultivated  fields.  There  is  no  known  method 
of  killing  them  after  they  have  entered  a  field,  or  of  driving 
them  away  from  it ;  but  they  may  be  kept  out  by  digging  a 
trench,  putting  straw  in  it,  with  some  moist  straw  on  top,  and 
then  setting  fire  to  it.  The  grasshoppers  do  not  like  the  fire 
and  smoke,  and  will  try  to  avoid  them. 

Under  the  head  of  the  grape  and  the  orange,  I  have  spoken 
of  the  bugs  which  infest  them.  The  army-worm  and  weevil 
have  been  seen  in  California,  but  have  done  little  damage  as 
yet.  The  curculio  is  not  known  in  the  State.  The  Canada 
thistle,  the  mullen,  and  the  dock,  have  been  introduced,  but 
have  not  yet  given  much  trouble. 

§  194.  Irrigation. — According  to  the  State  Surveyor-Gen- 
eral's statistics  for  1871,  California  had  in  that  year  915  irri- 
gating ditches,  supplying  water  to  90,344  acres— an  average 
of  about  100  acres  to  the  ditch.  Siskiyou  is  credited  with  180 
ditches,  and  6,900  irrigated  acres;  Tulare,  with  110  ditches 


AGRICULTURE.  269 

and  5,000  acres;  Mariposa,  with  60  ditches  and  210  acres; 
Los  Angeles,  with  52  ditches  and  18,200  acres;  Tuolumne, 
with  2  ditches  and  15,000  acres;  San  Joaquin,  with  2  ditches 
and  3,000  acres  ;  Alpine,  with  2  ditches  and  2,500  acres  ;  and 
Calaveras  with  27  ditches  and  272  acres. 

Most  of  the  irrigation  works  which  existed  before  1872  were 
of  little  relative  importance  ;  they  supplied  less  than  one  acre 
in  a  thousand,  and  most  of  them  were  very  costly,  compara- 
tively, on  account  of  their  small  size.  California  is  now  about 
to  enter  on  the  era  of  irrigation.  The  first  of  the  new  ditches 
— that  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  King's  River  Canal  and  Irriga- 
tion Company — supplies  15,000  acres  with  irrigation  this  year. 
It  is  thirty-eight  and  a  half  miles  long,  fifty-five  feet  wide, 
four  feet  deep,  has  a  descent  of  one  foot  to  the  mile,  and  runs 
northwestward  from  the  bend  of  the  San  Joaquin  River. 
About  half  of  the  land  irrigated  is  in  grain,  and  half  in  al- 
falfa. The  experience  so  far  is  most  encouraging,  the  irrigated 
land  all  producing  large  crops,  even  where  the  soil  is  poor ; 
while  the  richest  soil,  above  the  level  of  the  ditch,  yields 
nothing.  In  addition  to  the  15,000  acres,  60,000  more  can 
be  irrigated  from  this  ditch,  so  far  as  completed.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  extend  the  ditch  forty  miles,  to  San  Joaquin  City,  on 
the  San  Joaquin  River,  with  a  grade  of  half  a  foot  to  the  mile. 
The  extension  will  supply  water  to  250,000  acres,  making  the 
total  area  for  the  entire  ditch,  325,000  acres.  At  twenty 
bushels  to  the  acre,  that  ditch  alone  will  secure  a  production 
of  6,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  from  a  district  that  was  long 
considered  worthless  for  tillage,  and  that  has  never  yet  pro- 
duced 60,000  bushels,  though  thousands  of  acres  have  more 
than  once  been  sown  there. 

The  King's  River  Irrigation  Company  take  out  water  from 
King's  River,  where  it  enters  the  San  Joaquin  plain  on  the 
north  side.  The  ditch  is  thirty  feet  wide  and  three  feet 
deep,  with  a  grade  of  a  foot  to  a  mile.  The  supply  of  water 
is  sufficient  for  300,000  acres,  and  there  would  be  no  serious 
difficulty  in  enlarging  the  canal  to  take  out  all  the  water. 


s 


270  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  Fresno  Canal  was  constructed  by  Friedlander,  Chap- 
man, and  Howard,  to  take  the  water  from  Fresno  River, 
where  it  strikes  the  plain.  The  main  canal  is  ten  miles  long 
and  forty  feet  wide,  with  a  grade  of  eight-tenths  of  a  foot  to 
a  mile,  with  capacity  to  irrigate  40,000  acres ;  and  it  is  to  be 
supplied  with  a  reservoir  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  a  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  ten  feet  deep.  The  district  to  be  irrigated  is 
known  as  the  Alabama  Settlement,  south  of  the  Fresno  River. 

Chapman,  Miller  &  Lux  have  made  a  canal,  tapping  the  San 
Joaquin  twelve  miles  above  the  bend,  and  running  north  war  J, 
nearly  parallel  with  the  stream  below  the  bend.  It  is  thirty 
miles  long,  thirty-five  feet  wide,  and  three  feet  deep,  with  a 
grade  of  a  foot  to  a  mile,  and  capacity  to  irrigate  50,000 
acres.  The  land  covered  by  this  ditch  belongs  to  the  three 
ditch-builders. 

There  are  several  considerable  irrigating  ditches  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  San  Joaquin  County,  and  in  Kern  and  Yolo  Coun- 
ties. 

Assertions  have  been  published  repeatedly  that  the  con- 
struction of  large  canals  would  tend  to  throw  the  land  irri- 
gated into  the  same  ownership  with  that  of  the  water  supply, 
and  thus  would  not  only  prevent  the  sale  of  the  large  tracts 
now  held  by  single  individuals  to  small  farmers,  but  would 
compel  the  sale  of  many  tracts  to  the  ditch-owners.  G.  P. 
Marsh  claims  to  have  observed  such  results  in  Lombardy,  but 
he  may  have  misunderstood  the  causes.  All  the  experience  of 
our  continent  tends  to  prove  that  the  number  of  independent 
land-owners  increases  with  the  substitution  of  tillage  for  pas- 
turage, and  again  with  the  substitution  of  horticulture  for 
grain-farming  on  dry  soil  in  a  dry  climate.  The  cultivation 
of  irrigated  land  is  horticultural  in  its  tendencies.  Twenty 
acres  of  irrigated  land  may  demand  as  much  labor,  and  pay 
as  much  gross  revenue,  as  two  thousand  do  without  artificial 
water  supply,  if  kept  merely  for  wild  pasturage.  The  size  of 
the  farms  depends  on  the  quantity  that  a  farmer  can  afford  to 


AGRICULTURE.  271 

buy,  and  can  profitably  use,  with  his  supply  of  capital ;  and 
as  irrigated  land  is  much  dearer,  and  requires  a  larger  expen- 
diture for  cultivation  by  the  acre,  it  is  evident  that  the  aver, 
age  farmer  can  neither  buy  nor  manage  one-tenth  so  much  as 
he  could  of  dry  valley  land.  These  principles  must  be  quite 
clear  to  men  of  intelligence ;  and  they  are  verified  by  the 
results.  We  find,  for  instance,  that  in  Utah,  where  the  tillage 
is  done  almost  entirely  by  irrigation,  the  average  size  of  the 
farms  is  only  thirty  acres  ;  and  in  Wyoming,  where  irrigation 
is  also  necessary,  the  average  is  twenty-five  acres;  while 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts,  the  next  lowest,  have  more 
than  ninety  acres,  and  California,  under  the  influence  of  its 
large  dry  ranches,  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres.  If  we  com- 
pare the  counties  of  California,  we  find  that  one-half  of  the 
farms  in  Los  Angeles  are  between  three  and  fifty  acres  in  size, 
or  more  than  twice  as  many,  relatively,  in  1870,  as  in  Mon- 
terey and  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  where  there  were  then  few 
irrigating  ditches.  It  is  notorious  that  there  are  more  land- 
owners and  more  thorough  cultivation  in 'proportion  to  the 
area  at  the  cities  of  Los  Angeles,  Anaheim,  and  San  Jose,  the 
chief  irrigation  centers  of  the  State,  than  in  any  dry-soil  dis- 
tricts. This  should  be  a  complete  answer  to  those  who  argue 
that  irrigation  will  help  to  concentrate  the  ownership  of  the 
land  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  reduce  the  farm  laborers  to 
greater  dependence. 

§  195.  Reclamation. — The  reclamation  of  the  tuie  and 
swamp  land  is  a  matter  of  vast  importance  to  the  future  of 
California.  The  tule  land  occupies  three  million  acres  along 
the  banks  of  San  Francisco,  San  Pablo,  Suisun,  and  Hum- 
boldt  Bays,  and  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  Rivers,  the 
greater  portion  of  it  being  in  the  heart  of  the  State.  The  soil 
is  rich,  and  needs  only  to  be  protected  against  floods  and  high 
tides,  to  equal  in  prodiution  the  best  land  in  the  State.  This 
protection  is  afforded  by  dykes,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  wide  a 
the  base,  and  five  feet  at  the  top,  with  a  height  varying  from  five 


272  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

to  ten  feet.  This  embankment  costs  ten  or  eleven  cents  per 
cubic  yard,  and  the  ordinary  cost  of  reclamation  ranges  from 
$5  to  $20  per*  acre,  according  to  the  varying  circumstances. 
The  legislature  of  1872  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  sale  of 
bonds  to  pay  for  the  reclamation  of  the  several  tule  districts, 
the  bonds  to  be  a  mortgage  on  the  district  reclaimed.  It  was 
supposed  that  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $20,000,000  would  be 
sold  under  this  act ;  but  there  is  no  sale  for  them,  except  at  a 
discount  of  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent.,  and  the  land-owners  do 
not  wish  their  land  reclaimed  at  such  loss.  It  is  supposed  that 
a  better  price  can  be  obtained  after  the  passage  of  an  act  to 
remedy  some  of  the  defects  of  the  statute  of  1872.  About 
100,000  acres  have  been  partially  reclaimed  already. 

§  196.  Products  of  our  Herds. — We  can  estimate  the  but- 
ter of  the  State  to  be  worth  35  cents  per  pound,  or  $2,450,000  ; 
and  the  cheese  20  cents,  or  $680,000.  The  amount  of  milk  sold 
annually  is  3,700,000  gallons,  which  brings  about  $1,000,000  to 
the  dairy-men.  In  1872  the  exports  of  hides  were  worth  $170,- 
000;  of  horns,  $11,000;  of  bones,  $6,000;  and  of  wool, 
$7,750,000.  The  value  of  the  animals  slaughtered  annually 
is  $6,100,000.  These  figures  give  us  $18,137,000  as  the  an- 
nual value  of  the  products  of  our  herds,  exclusive  of  the  hides 
tanned  into  leather,  and  of  the  services  of  draught  and  riding 
animals. 

§  197.  Sheep. — The  climate  of  California  is  peculiarly  fa- 
vorable to  the  growth,  increase,  and  health  of  the  sheep.  Our 
mild  winters  permit  them  to  grow  throughout  the  year ;  and 
it  is  an  accepted  principle  among  those  familiar  with  the  sub- 
ject, that  a  sheep,  born  and  bred  in  California,  is,  at  two  years 
of  age,  usually  as  large  and  heavy  as  one  of  three  years,  born 
and  bred  in  the  Atlantic  States.  The  ewes  produce  twins  and 
triplets  more  frequently  here  than  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. The  health  of  the  herds  is  better.  No  fatal  disease  has 
ever  prevailed  to  any  serious  extent.  The  "  scab  "  exists  in 
many  herds,  but  in  a  mild  form,  and  few  have  died  of  it.  It  is 


AGRICULTURE.  273 

the  general  opinion  of  sheep-breeders  that  the  sheep  bred  in 
California  will  produce  more  wool  than  those  of  other  States. 
The  heaviest  unwashed  fleece  on  record,  is  that  of  "  Grizzly," 
a  French  Merino  buck.  It  was  fourteen  months  old,  weighed 
forty-two  pounds,  and  was  sheared  by  Flint,  Bixby  &  Co.,  in 
Monterey  County,  in  1859, 

Sheep  in  California  are  never  kept  under  shelter,  and  except 
a  few  of  fine  blood,  seldom  get  any  food,  save  such  as  they  can 
pick  up  on  the  open  hills  and  plains.  Sometimes  lambs  are 
lost  with  cold,  but  this  is  very  rare  when  they  are  well  man- 
aged. At  night  the  herds  are  driven  into  corrals  or  pens,  to 
protect  them  against  the  coyotes,  and  to  keep  them  from 
being  lost.  On  the  large  sheep  ranches,  one  herdsman  is  em- 
ployed for  a  thousand  sheep.  There  are  a  few  shepherd-dogs 
in  the  State,  some  brought  from  Australia,  others  from  Scot- 
land. The  word  "  corral "  is  understood  by  these  dogs,  and 
when  they  hear  it,  they  immediately  drive  the  herd  to  the 
corral.  At  the  sight  of  a  wolf  they  hastily  collect  the  sheep 
into  a  dense  body,  with  their  tails  out  and  the  lambs  in  the 
center.  If  a  sheep  turns  his  head  out,  the  dog  bites  his  knees 
and  makes  him  turn  about.  The  dog  seems  to  understand  that 
the  wolf  cannot  do  much  harm  by  biting  the  rump  of  a  sheep, 
but  would  soon  kill  it  after  catching  its  throat. 

In  most  other  sheep  countries,  the  sheep-breeder  is  at  great 
disadvantages  as  compared  with  California  :  the  land  is  dear ; 
it  must  be  cultivated ;  the  sheep  must  be  fed  by  hand  every 
day  during  a  considerable  part  of  the  year ;  the  herds  must  be 
under  shelter  in  the  winter ;  four  or  five  men  are  required,  on 
an  average,  to  attend  to  a  thousand  sheep ;  the  herds  are  not 
so  healthy,  do  not  increase  so  rapidly,  do  not  grow  so  large 
within  the  first  two  years,  and  do  not  produce  so  much  wool. 
The  laud  of  the  sheep  ranches  in  California  is  not  worth  more 
than  five  dollars  per  acre,  on  an  average — probably  not  more 
than  three  dollars.  It  follows  that  sheep-breeding  should  be 
very  profitable  here,  and  so  it  is.  The  ewes,  when  properly 
18 


274  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

taken  care  of,  have  lambs  before  they  are  a  year  old — increase 
one  hundred  per  cent,  every  year.  The  cost  of  keeping  large 
herds  is  variously  estimated  at  from  thirty-seven  to  fifty  cents 
per  head  annually,  exclusive  of  the  interest  of  the  land  used 
for  pasturage.  The  wool  of  a  good  sheep  will  pay  twice  the 
cost  of  keeping  it ;  and  the  wool  and  lamb  together,  of  a  fine- 
blood  ewe,  are  worth  eight  or  ten  times  the  cost.  It  is  the 
present  custom  to  sell  the  wethers  for  mutton  when  a  year  old, 
but  this  is  bad  policy,  save  with  the  poorest  sheep. 

The  old  missions  had  large  herds  of  sheep,  but  after  the 
management  of  those  large  establishments  was  taken  from 
the  priests  and  given  to  civil  officers,  in  1833,  the  sheep  were 
neglected  and  most  of  them  were  killed.  Twenty  years  later 
very  few  were  left  in  the  State  ;  but  there  was  a  demand  for 
mutton,  so  large  herds  were  driven  from  New  Mexico.  These 
were  a  very  poor  stock,  but  they  were  for  a  long  time  the 
only  sheep  that  could  be  had.  The  first  attempt  to  breed 
sheep,  as  an  exclusive  business  in  California,  since  the  Ameri- 
can conquest,  was  commenced  in  1853,  by  a  poor  man  who 
had  nothing  save  nine  hundred  ewes ;  and  they  increased  so 
rapidly,  and  proved  so  profitable,  that  within  ten  years  he  had 
ten  thousand  sheep,  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  land,  and  other 
property  to  the  value  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
his  wealth  has  greatly  increased  since. 

The  business  of  wool-growing  has  advanced  with  more 
steadiness,  and  has  paid  greater  average  and  regular  profits, 
than  any  other  agricultural  occupation  extensively  pursued  in 
the  State.  The  increase  in  the  production  was  for  a  long  time 
fifty-five  per  cent,  annually.  In  1855  the  yield  was  300,000 
pounds,  in  1860  3,260,000,  in  1865  6,445,000,  in  1870  19,700,- 
000,  and  in  1872  23,000,000.  Every  man  who  has  managed  a 
large  sheep  ranch  with  knowledge  and  prudence  has  become 
rich. 

The  varieties  most  prized  are  the  French  and  Spanish  Mer- 
inos, but  in  addition  to  these  we  have  some  fine  Southdowns, 


AGRICULTURE.  275 

Cotswolds,  and  Leicesters.  According  to  the  State  statistical 
report  of  1873,  California  had  in  that  year  4,000,000  sheep, 
and  as  the  yield  was  30,000,000  pounds,  the  average 
per  sheep  was  seven  pounds  to  the  head.  The  Federal  Census 
report  says  the  average  yield  per  head  was  four  and  an  eighth 
pounds.  California  has  the  finest  large  herds  of  sheep  in 
the  United  States,  and  produces  the  most  wool.  The  num- 
ber of  sheep  in  the  State  now  is  probably  4,500,000. 

The  increase  of  a  well-managed  herd  of  sheep  in  California 
is  seldom  less  than  80  per  cent.,  or  more  than  110  per  cent,  of 
the  number  of  ewes  over  two  years  old ;  and  the  increase  is 
about  the  same  in  all  the  varieties,  the  average  being  about  95 
per  cent.  Of  the  two-year-old  ewes,  10  per  cent,  ha  vet  wins ; 
of  the  three-year-olds,  30  per  cent. ;  of  the  four-year-olds,  35 
per  cent. ;  and  the  percentage  remains  the  same  till  they  get  to 
be  ten  years  old.  From  five  to  ten  per  cent,  are  barren  each 
year,  but  absolute  barrenness  is  very  rare.  Two  or  three  per 
cent,  of  the  lambs  are  separated  from  their  dams  during  the 
first  two  or  three  days,  and  die  of  neglect ;  and  two  per  cent, 
die  of  injuries  received  while  being  marked. 

South  of  Santa  Clara  the  grasses  are  more  nutritious  and 
more  abundant  in  favorable  years  than  in  the  north,  and  the 
climate  is  more  genial.  In  good  seasons  an  acre  should  sus- 
tain a  sheep.  In  the  winter,  spring,  and  summer,  the  herds 
pasture  chiefly  on  the  alfilerilla  and  bunch  grass,  preferring 
the  former  to  everything  else  ;  but  in  the  fall  nothing  is  left 
for  them  save  burr-clover,  and  they  take  to  that.  The  burrs 
are  so  rough  that  they  sometimes  cut  through  the  gullet,  or 
stomach,  and  thus  cause  the  death  of  the  sheep.  They  also 
get  into  the  wool  and  seriously  injure  its  value,  because  they 
are  set  round  with  little  spines,  and  can  only  be  removed  by  a 
gin.  They  are  as  brown  as  the  earth,  cover  the  southern  val- 
leys, and  possesssing  a  rich  nutriment,  they  enable  sheep  to 
fatten  on  land  that  to  the  inexperienced  eye  looks  as  barren 
as  bare  sand.  These  burrs  are  especially  abundant  in  the  wool 


276  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

from  the  southern  coast ;  that  from  the  northern  part  of  the 
State  is  much  cleaner  in  every  respect.  The  best  northern 
wool  brought  to  our  market  in  any  considerable  quantity  is- 
worth  23  cents  per  pound ;  the  same  quality  from  San  Luis 
Obispo,  full  of  burrs,  is  sold  for  1 6  cents.  A  little  washed  wool  i» 
brought  from  Russian  River  Valley,  but  our  woolen  factories 
have  to  wash  and  clean  all  their  wool.  Most  of  the  best  wool 
of  the  State  is  purchased  here,  and  the  poorer  qualities  are  ex- 
ported. The  condition  of  the  wool  is  taken  into  account,  as 
well  as  the  blood  of  the  sheep.  " 

§  198.  Neat  Cattle. — The  neat  cattle  have  been  decreasing 
since  1860,  in  which  year  the  number  was  1,100,000,  whereas 
now  it  is  820,000,  a  decrease  of  nearly  300,000.  Beef  has 
been  unprofitable,  and  the  sheep  and  wheat  together  have  oc- 
cupied large  areas  once  occupied  by  cows.  In  1853  the  miners 
stigmatized  the  coast  as  "  the  cow  counties,"  but  the  name 
is  no  longer  applicable.  The  counties  which  have  the  most 
neat  cattle  at  present  are  :  Fresno  119,000,  San  Luis  Obispo 
61,000,  Tulare  58,000,  Kern  59,000,  Sonoma  45,000,  Monterey' 
37,000,  Merced  34,000,  Humboldt  and  Los  Angeles  each  27,- 
000,  Contra  Costa  25,000,  and  Colusa,  San  Joaquin,  Sacra- 
mento, and  San  Diego,  each  20,000.  The  true  cow  region  now 
is  the  southern  part  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  where  Fresno, 
Merced,  Tulare,  and  Kern  have  together  270,000  head,  or 
one-third  of  the  entire  stock  of  the  State. 

§  199.  Spanish  Cattle. — Many  of  our  neat  cattle  are  of 
the  old  Californian  breed,  brought  hither  by  the  Spanish  mis- 
sionaries from  Mexico,  about  1770.  At  what  time  their  stock 
came  originally  to  Mexico  is  not  precisely  known,  but  without 
doubt  it  was  in  the  seventeenth  century,  soon  after  the  con- 
quest  by  Cortez,  and  they  must  have  been  imported  from 
Spain.  They  are  called  "  Spanish  cattle."  In  Mexico,  as  sub- 
sequently in  California,  they  were  allowed  to  run  almost  wild, 
and  they  took  something  of  the  appearance  of  wild  animals. 
They  have  nearly  the  same  range  of  colors  as  the  neat  cattle 


AGRICULTURE.  277 

of  Europe ;  but  mouse,  dun,  and  brindle  colors — almost  in- 
fallible signs  of  "  scrub  "  blood — are  more  frequent ;  and  the 
deep  red,  fine  cream  color,  and  delicate  mottling  of  deep  red 
and  white,  found  only  in  animals  of  high  blood,  are  entirely 
wanting.  Their  legs  are  long  and  thin,  their  noses  sharp, 
their  forms  graceful,  their  heads  high,  their  horns  long,  slen- 
der, and  widespread ;  and  they  have  a  duskiness  about  the 
eyes  and  nostrils  similar  to  that  of  the  deer,  between  which 
animal  and  a  young  Spanish  cow  there  are  many  points  of  re- 
semblance. The  general  carriage  of  a  Spanish  cow  is  like  that 
of  a  wild  animal :  she  is  quick,  uneasy,  restless,  frequently  on 
the  lookout  for  danger,  snuffing  the  air,  moving  with  a  high 
and  elastic  trot,  and  excited  at  the  sight  of  a  man,  particular- 
ly if  afoot,  when  she  will  often  attack  him.  In  some  districts 
it  is,  for  this  reason,  unsafe  to  go  about  on  foot.  The  herdsmen 
are  always  mounted,  and  to  these  the  cattle  are  accustomed  ; 
but  a  man  afoot  is  considered  to  be  a  dangerous  animal,  de- 
serving of  the  same  treatment  as  wolves  and  coyotes.  The 
Spanish  cow  is  small,  does  not  fatten  readily,  produces  little 
milk,  and  her  meat  is  not  so  tender  and  juicy  as  that  of  Amer- 
ican cattle. 

The  breeding  of  neat  cattle  was  almost  the  only  business  of 
the  country  previous  to  the  American  conquest,  and  they  were 
killed  for  their  hides  and  tallow,  which  were  the  chief  exports. 

The  meat  went  to  enrich  the  land  ;  there  was  too  much  of 
it  to  be  eaten.  The  breeding  of  cattle  being  the  chief  occupa- 
tion of  t&e  Californians,  determined  their  mode  of  life,  the 
structure  of  their  society,  and  the  size  of  their  ranches.  No- 
body wanted  to  own  less  than  a  square  league,  (four  thousand 
four  hundred  and  thirty-eight  acres)  of  land ;  and  the  Govern- 
ment granted  it  away  without  charge,  in  tracts  varying  from 
one  to  eleven  leagues,  to  anybody  who  would  undertake  to 
erect  a  house  and  put  a  hundred  head  of  cattle  on  the  place. 
It  was  common  for  one  man  to  own  five  thousand  head  of 
cattle.  The  cows  were  kept  for  breeding,  and  the  steers  were 


278  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

regularly  killed  as  they  reached  the  age  of  three  or  four  years. 
All  had  the  freedom  of  the  country  and  ranged  where  they 
pleased,  except  that  several  times  a  year  every  man  collected 
his  own  upon  his  ranch.  There  was  about  one  bull  to  fifty 
cows.  No  attempt  was  made  to  improve  the  breed,  nor  was 
any  profit  to  be  made  from  an  improvement.  Most  of  the 
calves  were  born  about  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  in 
March  the  first  rodeo  was  held. 

§  200.  Rodeos. — The  word  rodeo  comes  from  the  same 
root  with  "  rotate,"  and  means  a  surrounding,  a  gathering  of 
all  the  cattle  on  a  ranch,  and  the  separation  and  removal  of 
those  belonging  to  other  ranches.  There  are  general  and  spe- 
cial rodeos.  A  rodeo  may  be  for  one  ranch  or  for  several ; 
but  every  ranchero  owning  a  large  ranch  and  many  cattle,  has 
his  own  rodeos  :  at  least  one  rodeo  in  the  spring  and  another 
in  the  fall.  The  general  rodeo  is  held  for  the  benefit  of  all 
the  cattle-owners  in  the  neighborhood ;  the  special  rodeo  is 
held  for  the  benefit  of  some  particular  person  or  persons  who 
desire  an  opportunity  to  remove  their  cattle  from  a  ranch. 
Every  owner  of  a  rancho  is  required  by  law  to  give  a  gen- 
eral rodeo  every  spring. 

When  a  general  rodeo  is  to  be  held,  the  ranchero  sends  no- 
tice several  days  or  weeks  in  advance  to  the  cattle -owners  in 
the  vicinity  ;  and  in  the  cattle-districts  the  neighborhood  ex- 
tends forty  or  fifty  miles,  for  cattle  will  stray  that  distance. 
On  the  day  appointed,  the  ranchero  having  selected  some 
place  where  the  cattle  are  to  be  collected,  sends  out  his 
mounted  vaqueros,  or  herdsmen,  at  daylight  to  drive  the  cat- 
tle to  the  appointed  place,  where  they  are  gathered  at  ten 
o'clock.  By  that  time,  the  interested  rancheros  with  their  va- 
queros  have  made  their  appearance,  and  are  on  the  ground, 
all  mounted  and  prepared  for  the  day's  work. 

The  ranchero  who  gives  the  rodeo  is  present  to  entertain  his 
visitors,  and  his  men  are  instructed  to  keep  the  cattle  together. 
The  herd  may  be  very  large.  I  have  seen  eight  thousand  head 


AGRICULTURE.  279 

of  cattle  in  a  rodeo,  forming  a  solid  body  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  in  diameter  in  every  direction.  The  visiting  rancheros 
who  have  come  from  the  greatest  distance  are  permitted  to 
enter  the  mass  first,  select  their  cattle,  and  drive  them  out. 
Each  man  has  a  position  chosen  at  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  or 
a  mile,  whither  he  drives  his  cattle ;  and  there  are  several  men 
there  mounted,  to  prevent  them  from  returning  to  the  main 
herd.  When  a  rauchero  sees  one  of  his  cows  in  the  herd,  he 
calls  to  a  friend,  and  the  two  chase  her  out.  She  does  not  • 
wish  to  go,  and  tries  to  hide  herself  among  the  other  cattle. 
The  horses,  accustomed  to  the  rodeo,  soon  recognize  the  cow 
that  is  to  be  parted  out,  and  enjoy  the  work.  They  turn 
with  every  turn  of  hers,  and  she  is  soon  tired  and  compelled 
to  go  out.  If  the  cow  be  accompanied  by  a  large  unmarked 
calf,  the  latter  is  often  caught  with  the  lasso,  thrown  down, 
and  then  marked  with  the  knife.  While  these  rancheros  a/e 
riding  about  among  the  herd,  and  seeking  their  own,  the  cattle 
are  driven  by  a  few  vaqueros  belonging  to  the  ranch,  so  as  to 
move  about  in  a  circular  manner.  As  the  cattle  are  thus 
moving  round  in  one  direction,  the  rancheros  of  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  whose  time  has  not  yet  come  for  entering  the 
center  of  the  rodeo,  ride  round  in  a  direction  contrary  to  the 
course  of  the  herd,  and  thus  are  enabled  to  see  them  to  more 
advantage  than  if  they  were  standing  still.  After  the  ran- 
cheros from  a  distance  have  parted  out  all  their  cattle,  those  of 
the  vicinity  ride  in,  and  the  whole  day  is  thus  spent  in  racing 
and  chasing  after  cattle. 

The  man  who  gives  the  rodeo  does  not  attempt  to  examine 
the  cattle  which  are  driven  away.  He  takes  it  for  granted 
that  every  one  will  drive  off  only  his  own  animals.  Some- 
times several  days  are  necessary  to  complete  the  general  rodeo 
of  a  ranch,  and  the  work  is  continued  from  day  to  day  until 
finished.  All  the  rodeos  of  a  neighborhood  are  usually  held 
in  a  regular  and  close  connection.  The  rancheros  from  a  dis- 
tance, therefore,  stay  until  they  have  attended  all  the  rodeos 


280  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

in  a  district  to  which  they  suppose  that  any  of  their  cattle  have 
strayed ;  and  they  are  usually  the  guests  of  the  man  upon 
whose  ranch  the  rodeo  is  given. 

When  a  cow  is  driven  out,  her  calf  follows.  Every  ran- 
chero  knows  his  cattle  by  the  brand,  which  law  and  custom 
require  him  to  use.  Of  course,  when  a  man  has  four  or  five 
thousand  head  of  cattle,  he  cannot  recognize  them  all  by 
sight :  he  can  only  distinguish  them  by  marks.  He  knows  his 
cows  by  their  brands,  and  his  calves  by  their  following  the 

COWSv 

The  spring  rodeos  are  the  busiest  seasons  of  the  rancheros, 
and  are  for  them  the  chief  occasions  of  general  meeting,  excit- 
ing adventure,  conversation,  and  festivity,  in  the  course  of  the 
year.  Frequently  three  or  four  hundred  men  will  meet  at  these 
places,  mounted  on  their  best  horses-,  and  ready  for  fun.  All 
th$  work  of  the  rodeo  is  exciting.  Lively  scenes  are  enacting 
at  every  moment,  and  in  every  direction.  Calves  will  try  to 
get  away  from  the  herd,  and  escape  to  the  hills.  Cows  which 
have  been  driven  out  will  endeavor  to  get  back.  These  must 
be  chased  by  the  horsemen.  Frequently  the  lasso  must  be 
used.  Many  of  the  vaqueros  are  fond  of  showing  their  skill 
before  so  many  spectators,  and  astonishing  feats  of  horseman- 
ship  are  performed. 

When  a  ranchero  returns  from  a  rodeo,  with  his  cattle  which 
had  strayed  away,  he  drives  them  into  his  corral,  and  brands- 
and  marks  his  calves  ;  so  that  if  they  should  return  to  their 
former  range,  he  will  know  them  the  next  year.  If  those  that 
have  been  on  other  ranches  are  too  numerous  to  be  branded 
and  marked  in  one  day,  some  of  his  vaqueros  stay  with  them 
on  horseback,  and  herd  them  until  all  can  be  marked.  When  a 
cow  has  become  accustomed  to  a  ranch,  she  likes  to  return  to  it. 
After  all  the  calves  are  marked,  the  owner  does  not  care  much 
whither  they  go,  provided  that  they  do  not  stray  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  ranches,  the  rodeos  of  which  he  attends.  It  is 
only  in  times  of  extraordinary  scarcity  of  grass  that  the  ranch- 


AGRICULTURE.  281 

eros  are  particular  to  drive  the  cattle  of  other  owners  off  their 
lands. 

The  rodeo  season  being  over — that  is,  when  the  ranchero 
has  all  his  cattle  on  his  own  ranch,  and  his  alone — he  com- 
mences the  work  of  branding.  His  vaqueros  drive  about  two 
hundred  cows  with  their  calves  into  the  corral  every  morning, 
and  two  or  three  good  vaqueros  will  brand  these  calves  in  a 
day.  The  vaqueros  enter  the  corral  with  their  horses,  which 
they  need  when  the  calves  are  large  and  strong,  for  many  of 
them  are  three  and  four  months  old.  If  the  calf  be  small,  the 
vaquero  may  be  afoot  to  lasso  him.  One  vaquero  throws 
a  reata  over  the  calf's  head,  and  another  catches  him  by  the 
leg ;  they  throw  him  down,  and  one  holds  him,  while  the 
other  gets  a  hot  branding-iron  and  burns  the  owner's  mark 
upon  its  hip.  Thus  the  work  goes  on  from  day  to  day,  and 
from  week  to  week,  until  every  calf  on  the  ranch  is  marked. 

§  201.  Brands. — The  law  requires  that  every  horse  and 
cow  shall  be  branded  with  a  brand  belonging  to  their  owner. 
The  brand  is  made  of  iron,  sometimes  representing  one  or  two 
letters,  sometimes  other  arbitrary  signs,  such  as  a  cross,  a  cir 
cle,  a  triangle,  or  any  other  design.  The  brand  may  be  six 
inches  long  by  four  wide,  and  the  thickness  of  the  iron  is 
about  a  third  of  an  inch.  There  is  an  iron  handle,  with  a 
wooden  crosspiece  at  the  end,  so  that  the  brand  can  be  han- 
dled when  hot,  and  held  down  firmly  upon  the  prostrate  calf, 
until  the  figure  is  indelibly  burned  into  the  skin.  A  copy  of 
every  brand  must  be  burned  upon  leather,  and  deposited  in 
the  county  recorder's  office.  Every  minor  and  servant  on  a 
ranch  must  use  the  brand  of  the  owner  of  the  ranch.  The 
brand  must  be  burned,  under  penalty,  upon  all  horses  and 
neat  cattle,  before  the  age  of  eighteen  months.  The  brand  is 
burned  upon  the  hip,  and  indicates  ownership  ;  when  the  ani- 
mal is  sold,  the  brand  is  burned  upon  the  shoulder  and  indi- 
cates sale.  The  purchaser  then  puts  his  brand  upon  the  hip  ; 
and  thus  the  skin  of  a  Californian  horse  or  cow  contains  the 


282  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

history  of  its  ownership.  Many  of  the  brands  are  well  known 
to  the  rancheros  over  a  large  portion  of  the  State ;  and  by 
looking  at  the  animal,  they  will  tell  where  it  was  born,  and 
who  have  owned  it  at  different  times.  The  hips  and  shoulders 
on  botli  sides  are  often  covered  with  brands.  Sometimes  the 
brands  grow  with  the  animals ;  in  other  cases  they  remain 
nearly  of  their  original  size.  A  brand  well  burned  into  the 
skin  is  perceptible  as  long  as  the  animal  lives,  though  it  grows 
less  and  less  distinct  with  the  advance  of  years. 

In  the  fall  there  is  another  season  of  rodeos,  to  brand  such 
calves  as  may  have  escaped  notice  at  the  spring  rodeos,  or 
may  have  been  too  small  to  be  branded. 

The  rancheros  sometimes  have  a  mark  in  addition  to  their 
brand,  such  as  slitting  the  ear  or  cutting  a  notch  in  the  dew- 
lap. A  drawing  of  the  mark  must  be  deposited  in  the  county 
recorder's  office.  It  is  contrary  to  law  to  cut  off  the  end  of 
the  ear,  or  to  cut  it  on  both  sides  so  as  to  bring  it  to  a  point ; 
for  those  modes  of  marking  would  give  opportunities  to  cut 
away  the  marks  of  other  people.  The  bull-calves  are  usually 
altered  at  the  rodeos,  as  well  as  branded  and  marked.  The 
cattle  on  many  ranches  are  touched  only  twice  in  their  lives 
by  the  hand  of  man — first,  when  they  are  branded  ;  and  next, 
when  they  are  slaughtered. 

§  202.  Early  Maturity. — The  cows  calve  almost  invariably 
before  they'are  two  years  old,  frequently  before  they  are  eight- 
een months,  and  sometimes  before  fourteen  months.  They 
generally  arrive  at  maternity  a  year  sooner  than  in  the 
Atlantic  States.  The  Spanish  rancheros  have  eight  or  ten 
bulls  to  a  hundred  cows ;  the  Americans  usually  four  or  five. 
The  calves  suckle  from  six  to  ten  months  :  that  is,  from  Janu- 
ary or  February,  when  they  are  born,  until  November,  when 
the  pasturage  is  very  scanty.  The  Spanish  cows  have  small 
udders,  and  yield  little  milk ;  and  notwithstanding  their  great 
number  in  the  country,  butter,  milk,  and  cheese  were  very 
rarely  seen  on  the  table  previous  to  the  coming  of  the  Ameri- 


AGRICULTURE.  283 

• 

cans.  American  cows  are  the  only  ones  used  for  the  dairy, 
but  many  of  them  are  now  kept  also  for  breeding  alone,  and, 
like  the  Spanish  cows,  are  never  milked. 

§.  203.  Corral  and  Reata. — The  corral  is  an  important 
part  of  all  cattle-ran chos,  and  on  many  of  them  it  is  the  only 
enclosure.  It  is  a  pen,  from  thirty  to  fifty  yards  square,  sur- 
rounded by  a  high,  strong  fence.  It  is  used  whenever  horses 
or  cattle  are  to  be  branded. 

The  reata,  used  for  lassoing,  is  a  rawhide  rope,  about  five- 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  thirty  yards  long.  It  is 
made  of  four  strips  of  cowhide,  from  which  the  hair  has  been 
scraped  ;  and  after  plaiting,  it  is  greased  and  dragged  along  on 
the  ground  after  a  saddle  to  render  it  pliable.  Rawhide  is 
better  than  any  other  material,  because  it  has  just  the  proper 
weight  arid  stiffness  for  the  purpose.  A  running  noose,  which 
slips  very  easily,  is  arranged  at  one  end.  When  the  reata  is 
to  be  used,  the  noose  is  made  from  four  to  six  feet  long  ;  one 
side  of  the  noose  and  the  reata  just  outside  are  taken  in  the 
right  hand,  so  that  while  in  the  hand  the  noose  will  not  slip  ; 
the  remainder  of  the  reata  is  held  coiled  up  in  the  left  hand, 
ready  to  be  let  go.  The  vaquero  swings  the  noose  around  his 
head  in  such  a  way  as  to  keep  it  open  ;  and  when  he  has  a 
good  swing  he  lets  go,  and  away  it  will  fly  its  whole  length. 
If  it  catches  the  object  aimed  at,  the  noose  draws  tight.  It  is 
not  an  uncommon  thing  for  a  vaquero  to  catch  a  cow  at  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty  feet,  while  she  and  his  horse  are  both  running 
rapidly ;  but  usually  he  will  get  within  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
if  he  can,  before  throwing  his  reata.  A  good  vaquero,  stand- 
ing in  front  of  another  man,  can  push  the  latter  back,  and  the 
moment  his  foot  leaves  the  ground  throw  a  reata  under  it,  and 
thus  lasso  him  bv  the  leer.  When  cattle  or  horses  are  to  be 

J  O 

branded,  they  must  be  thrown  down ;  arid  this  is  generally  ac- 
complished by  catching  the  head  with  one  reata  and  a  hind 
leg  with  another. 


284  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

§  204.  Occasional  Starvation. — Nineteen  out  of  twenty  of 
the  cattle  of  California  never  get  any  food  save  such  as  grows 
indigenously  in  the  open  country,  and  they  always  suffer  for 
it.  From  March  to  July  the  pasture  is  abundant  and  excel- 
lent,  and  the  cattle  are  fat ;  from  July  to  October,  in  ordinary 
years,  the  grasses  and  clovers,  though  dry  and  brown,  are  nu- 
tritious, and  the  cattle  still  remain  in  good  condition ;  but 
from  October  to  January  they  grow  lean  rapidly,  and  almost 
every  year  a  considerable  number  of  them  die  by  starvation. 
Either  the  grass  may  be  all  consumed,  or  it  may  be  deprived 
of  its  nutriment.  The  first  case  happens  when  the  grass  is 
very  scanty,  because  of  the  small  fall  of  rain  during  the  win- 
ter ;  the  second  occurs  when  a  heavy  rain,  lasting  a  day  or 
two,  comes  before  New  Year's  day,  and  is  followed  by  cold, 
dry  weather.  The  rain  takes  away  the  palatable  and  nutri- 
tious qualities  of  the  old  grass,  and  the  cold  and  dry  weather 
prevents  the  starting  of  the  new  grass,  and  between  the  two 
the  cattle  suffer.  In  1856,  seventy  thousand  head  of  cattle 
died  in  Los  Angeles  County  alone  by  starvation,  one-third  of 
the  entire  number  in  the  county,  which  has  now  only  27,000 
in  all.  In  1863  and  1864,  the  loss  by  starvation  was  estimated 
at  200,000  or  300,000.  Santa  Barbara  County  had  97,000  head 
in  the  spring  of  1863,  and  only  12,090  in  the  spring  of  1865,  in- 
dicating a  decrease  of  85,000.  The  numerous  droughts  affect 
the  neat  cattle  interest  more  permanently  than  any  other.  The  - 
failure  of  wheat  in  one  year  does  not  injure  the  crop  of  the 
next,  but  is  rather  a  benefit  to  it,  since  the  soil  has  had  a  rest, 
and  its  materials  have  been  prepared  for  plant  assimilation  by 
exposure  to  the  air.  A  severe  drought  prevents  an  increase  in 
the  sheep,  but  does  not  reduce  their  number.  But  the  neat 
cattle  receive  less  care,  are  less  profitable,  and  find  more  diffi- 
culty in  surviving  on  scanty  pasturage. 

§  205.  Fine  Blood. — The  cattle  of  pure  Spanish  or  Mexi- 
can blood  in  a  few  years  will  have  entirely  disappeared  from 
the  State.  The  American  and  English  breeds  are  replacing  it. 


AGRICULTURE.  285 

The  American  cows  are  fine  animals  for  milk  and  beef,  but 
they  are  not  uniform  in  blood,  and  are  inferior  in  the  most 
desirable  qualities  to  the  carefully  bred  Durhams,  Ayrshires, 
and  Alderneys,  which  are  regarded  here  with  more  favor 
than  any  other  of  the  European  stocks.  The  wild  pastures  of 
the  State  are  not  fitted  to  keep  up  the  character  of  the  fine 
breeds,  and  after  a  few  years  the  offspring  of  the  Durham  and 
Devon  bulls,  left  without  cultivated  food,  are  scarcely  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  common  herd  of  mixed  American  and 
Spanish  blood.  The  time  is,  however,  not  far  distant  when  we 
shall  have  extensive  pastures  in  the  reclaimed  and  irrigated 
districts,  and  then  our  neat  cattle  will  soon  show  a  great  im- 
provement. 

§  206.  Pasture. — The  cultivated  food  given  to  dairy  cows 
in  California  consists  of  maize  cut  green,  pumpkins,  beets, 
potatoes,  bran  mixed  with  chopped  straw  and  hay,  alfalfa, 
oats,  and  barley.  The  natural  pastures  near  the  ocean  keep 
green  longer  than  those  in  the  interior,  and  they  are  therefore 
better  adapted  to  dairy  purposes.  Fine  pasture  is  found  in 
some  of  the  high  parts  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  many  dairy- 
men who  have  their  homes  in  the  valleys  or  foot-hills,  drive 
their  herds  up  into  the  mountains  at  the  beginning  of  summer, 
take  their  families  with  them,  and  spend  their  time  in  making 
butter  until  the  approach  of  winter  drives  them  down,  when 
they  bring  the  product  of  their  season's  work  down  to  the 
market. 

§  207.  Butter.— The  production  of  butter  in  California 
amounted  in  1872  to  7,500,000  pounds,  a  large  quantity  as 
compared  with  that  of  other  countries  with  a  similar  climate. 
The  dairy  cows  are  nearly  all  of  American  blood,  crossed  with 
Durham,  Ayrshire,  or  Devon,  and  a  few  are  of  the  pure 
British  milking  breeds.  In  many  places  they  get  no  cultivated 
food  except  in  times  of  drought,  when  they  receive  enough  hay 
to  keep  them  alive  ;  but  there  is  a  constant  improvement  in 
the  style  of  their  keeping  and  also  in  the  profit  of  the  dairies. 


286  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  chief  dairy  districts  are  Marin,  Sonoma,  Santa  Clara, 
Monterey,  San  Luis  Obispo,  and  Santa  Cruz,  (the  counties 
west  of  the  Diablo  divide,  between  35°  and  39°,  taking  the 
lead)  then  Sacramento,  San  Joaquin,  and  Yolo,  (the  center  of 
the  Sacramento-San  Joaquin  Basin)  and  after  these  the  Sierra 
Nevada. 

The  most  notable  dairy  property  in  the  State  was  a  few 
years  since  a  small  tract  of  130,000  acres,  in  Marin  County, 
owned  by  three  gentlemen ;  but  it  has  since  been  divided  into 
three  equal  parts,  one  belonging  to  J.  M.  Shafter,  another  to 
C.  Howard,  and  a  third  to  the  estate  of  O.  L.  Shafter.  It  fronts 
thirty-five  miles  on  the  ocean,  including  Point  Reyes,  north  of 
the  Golden  Gate,  and  extends  inland  ten  miles.  This  estate 
was  stocked  with  cows,  which  were  leased  in  herds,  with  from 
five  to  seven  acres  to  each  cow,  the  lessee  paying  about  $25 
cash  for  each  cow,  and  a  cow-calf  for  each  two  cows  as  an- 
nual rent.  The  yield  for  each  cow  above  expenses  is  estimated 
at  $60,  so  that  the  lessee  has  a  fair  chance  to  prosper  with 
good  management ;  and  the  dairy-men  of  Marin,  as  well  as 
of  other  parts  of  the  State,  have  generally  done  well.  No 
other  agricultural  occupation  in  California  has  paid  so  steadily, 
or  given  competence  to  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  men  en- 
gaged in  it,  except  wool-growing. 

§  208.  Cheese. — The  annual  production  of  cheese  in  Cali- 
fornia is  3,400,000  pounds,  including  700,000  from  Monterey, 
525,000  from  Santa  Clara,  470,000  from  San  Mateo,  380,000 
from  Marin,  340,000  from  San  Luis  Obispo,  250,000  from  So- 
noma, and  230,000  from  Merced.  Monterey  and  San  Luis 
Obispo,  which  front  on  the  ocean  for  a  hundred  miles  south  of 
36°  40',  and  produce  about  one-twelfth  of  the  butter  of  the 
State,  supply  more  than  one-third  of  the  cheese  ;  while  Marin 
and  Sonoma,  which  occupy  the  Pacific  shore  from  38°  40'  to 
39°  50',  make  three-sevenths  of  our  butter,  and  only  one-fifth 
of  our  cheese.  The  cheese  dairy-men  feed  less  cultivated  food 
to  their  cows  than  do  the  butter  men,  and  generally  they  oc- 


AGRICULTURE.  287 

cupy  places  less  accessible  to  the  market.  Partly  on  account 
of  the  lack  of  cultivated  food,  and  the  large  areas  necessary 
to  support  one  cow — usually  from  five  to  ten  acres,  (whereas 
with  cultivation,  two  acres  would  be  sufficient)  we  have  only 
two  cheese  factories  to  work  up  the  milk  of  a  number  of  dif- 
ferent farmers,  though  many  of  the  cheese  houses  designed  to 
do  the  work  of  separate  dairies  are  equal  in  size  to  large  fac- 
tories in  New  York. 

§  209.  Worses.— California  has  237,000  horses,  of  which 
perhaps  a  fourth  are  of  pure  Spanish  blood,  while  the  remain- 
der are  mostly  mixed  American  and  Spanish  blood.  The 
Spanish  horses  are  of  the  old  imported  stock,  sent  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century  from  Spain  to  Mexico,  and  thence  brought  to 
California  about  eighty  years  ago.  Like  the  neat  cattle,  the 
Spanish  horses  run  wild,  and  partake  to  some  extent  of  the  wild 
nature.  They  show  their  base  blood  by  their  colors — mouse 
color,  dull  duns  of  various  shades,  and  calico  color,  or  mixtures 
of  white  with  red  or  black,  in  numerous  large  spots  or  blotches, 
are  common  ;  while  chestnut,  bright  sorrel,  blood  bay,  and  dap- 
pled gray,  arc  very  rare  among  them.  They  are  quick,  tough, 
healthy,  and  unsurpassable  for  the  uses  of  the  rider,  and  the 
vaquero  ;  but  small,  lacking  in  weight,  strength,  and  beauty, 
and  unfitted  for  the  heavy,  steady  work  of  the  plough,  cart,  or 
wagon.  They  are  wanting  in  the  docility,  kindly  disposition, 
and  steadiness  of  the  well-bred  horse  ;  and  they  have  little  of 
that  kind  of  sense  which  leads  an  American  horse  to  be  quiet 
and  gentle,  even  in  circumstances  strange  to  him.  For  Cali- 
fornia as  it  was  in  1845,  there  were  no  better  horses  than  the 
Spanish-Mexican.  They  have  a  wonderful  toughness,  and 
some  of  their  exploits  in  the  way  of  traveling  are  unsurpassed 
in  the  annals  of  the  turf.  A  number  of  instances  are  on  rec- 
ord where  Californian  horses  have  carried  a  rider  one  hun- 
dred miles  in  a  day,  and  that  with  no  food  save  grass.  Sixty 
miles  a  day  is  not  an  uncommon  ride,  nor  is  it  considered  a  se- 
vere one.  Fremont,  on  one  occasion,  rode  four  hundred  miles 


288  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

in  four  days,  riding  different  horses,  but  driving  them  before 
him  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  journey. 

Many  of  the  brood-mares  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State 
are  wild  Spanish  ;  that  is,  they  live  entirely  in  the  open  plain, 
are  unbroken,  and  many  of  them  have  never  been  touched,  save 
when  they  were  to  be  branded.  They  are  in  bands  called 
manadas,  numbering  from  thirty  to  sixty  mares,  which  are 
under  the  guidance  of  one  stallion  or  garanon.  He  knows 
every  one  of  his  band,  keeps  them  together,  conducts  them  to 
what  he  considers  the  best  pastures,  and  drives  away  geldings, 
stallions,  mules,  and  whatever  animals  he  may  dislike.  When 
a  vaquero  tries  to  drive  the  manada  into  a  corral  for  the  pur- 
pose of  catching  some  of  the  band,  the  garanon  will  frequently 
divide  them  and  scatter  them  about,  and  render  it  impossible 
for  the  vaquero  to  get  them  together ;  for  while  he  drives  in  one 
place,  the  stallion  is  equally  busy  at  another,  and  the  mares 
fear  his  teeth  and  heels  as  much  as  the  swinging  reata  of  the 
horseman.  The  garanon  is  usually  from  five  to  nine  years  of 
age.  He  guards  his  manada  with  the  most  jealous  care.  It 
sometimes  happens  that  one  garanon  tries  to  take  away  a  mare 
from  the  band  of  another,  and  then  a  fight  ensues,  in  which 
the  weaker  has  to  suffer  a  severe  biting  and  kicking,  and  then 
lose  the  object  of  the  battle,  too.  The  mananda  keeps  together 
for  year  after  year,  but  when  it  gets  too  large,  the  vaquero 
will  divide  it  and  give  a  portion  to  the  charge  of  another 
garanon.  All  the  mares  foal  before  they  are  three  years  old, 
whereas  in  the  Atlantic  States  they  seldom  foal  until  a  year 
later.  They  also  breed  more  regularly  than  elsewhere,  for 
when  mares  are  kept  in  stables,  they  frequently  pass  seasons 
without  having  colts.  The  foals  are  branded  at  the  age  of 
three  or  four  months,  and  are  weaned  at  the  age  of  eight  or 
ten  months.  The  fillies  continue  to  run  with  the  manada,  and 
become  part  of  it.  The  colts  continue  to  run  with  the 
manada  until  they  are  three  or  four  years  of  age,  when  they 
are  broken  and  put  into  the  cabattada,  or  herd  of  broken 


AGRICULTURE.  289 

horses.  The  Mexicans  never  broke  their  mares,  and  con- 
sidered it  discreditable  and  a  mark  of  great  poverty  to  ride 
one. 

The  American  horses,  that  is  the  common  stock  of  horses 
brought  from  the  Atlantic  States,  and  their  offspring,  are 
large,  fine  animals,  not  so  healthy  and  tough  as  the  Califor- 
nian  horses,  but  larger,  more  active,  stronger,  and  more  hand- 
some in  shape  and  color. 

Many  stallions  and  mares  of  fine  blood  have  been  imported, 
including  thoroughbreds  or  English  racers,  Morgans,  and  vari- 
ous other  American  trotters,  and  Clydesdale  and  other  heavy 
cart  and  truck  horses.  Some  of  these  horses  are  valued  as 
high  as  twenty  thousand  dollars  each.  The  trotters  are  in 
greater  demand,  and  bring  higher  prices  than  the  thorough- 
breds, and  much  more  than  the  working  horses ;  but  the  last 
are  the  animals  of  direct  industrial  value.  The  Clydesdale, 
crossed  with  the  American  and  Spanish  stocks,  supplies  many 
of  our  best  horses  for  heavy  draught.  The  pure  Clydesdale 
weighs  about  2,000  pounds ;  the  three-quarter  blood,  (one 
quarter  Spanish)  at  four  years  old,  weighs  about  1,500  pounds, 
and  is  worth  $300  ;  the  half-blood  weighs  1,300  pounds,  and  is 
worth  $250 ;  and  the  pure  Spanish  weighs  800  and  sells  for 
$50.  The  cross  of  the  Clydesdale  with  the  American,  gives  a 
larger  and  more  valuable  animal.  Many  of  the  Clydesdale 
grades  (as  animals  of  mixed  blood  are  called)  are  worth  from 
$400  to  $800. 

§  210.  Hides. — Nearly  all  the  farm  work  of  California, 
where  draught  animals  are  necessary,  is  done  with  horses. 
Mules  are  too  dear  and  oxen  are  too  slow.  Many  mules  and 
horses  are  used  in  packing  merchandise  in  those  districts  where 
there  are  no  good  wagon-roads.  For  the  ordinary  uses  of  the 
farm  the  mule  is  preferable  to  the  horse,  being  longer-lived, 
more  healthy,  not  so  much  injured  physically  or  morally  by 
ill-treatment,  and  able  to  thrive  on  cheaper  and  simpler  food. 
But  the  mule  is  not  considered  handsome,  and  the  small  farmer 
19 


290  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

wants  a  horse  which  he  can  ride,  and  with  which  he  can  take 
his  family  out.  The  State  has  27,000  mules,  and  perhaps  a 
dozen  jacks  of  fine  blood. 

§  211.  Swine. — Swine  are  not  in  favor  with  the  farmers  of 
California,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  State 
had  600,000  of  them  in  1860,  and  has  only  400,000  now. 
They  increase  rapidly,  and  their  meat  commands  a  high  price, 
but  they  do  not  thrive  upon  the  dry  pastures  ;  they  are  not 
permitted  to  run  at  large  in  many  counties ;  the  mast  is  scanty 
in  the  agricultural  counties,  and  grain  suitable  for  feed  is  dear. 
It  is  probable  that  after  extensive  districts  are  brought  under 
the  influence  of  irrigation,  so  that  maize  and  succulent  roots 
can  be  cultivated  with  more  profit  than  at  present,  swine  will 
come  into  more  favor. 

§  2 1 2.  Angora  Goats. — The  importation  of  Angora  or  Cash- 
mere goats  was  commenced  in  1858,  and  several  hundred  ani- 
mals, represented  to  be  of  pure  blood,  have  been  brought  to 
the  State  since ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  most  brilliant 
promises,  they  have  as  yet  paid  a  profit  to  nobody  save  thoee 
who  sold  the  bucks.  A  gentleman  engaged  in  that  business, 
and  claiming  to  understand  the  value  and  market  of  Angora 
wool,  published  an  article  several  years  ago,  stating  that  a  herd 
of  768  nanny  goats  of  common  blood,  supplied  with  Angora 
bucks,  would  in  five  years  have  increased  to  8,364,  most  of 
them  as  good  for  wool  as  the  pure  Angora.  The  sales  of 
.wethers  for  mutton  in  the  five  years,  at  $4  per  head,  would 
amount  to  $5,000;  and  the  sales  of  wool,  beginning  after  two 
years,  when  there  would  be  a  considerable  stock  of  goats  of 
seven-eighths  blood,  would  be  $384  the  first  year,  $1,728  the 
second,  $4,896  the  third,  and  from  that  time  on  would  con- 
tinue to  increase  at  the  rate  of  about  fifty  per  cent,  annually, 
if  the  wool  were  to  bring  $1  per  pound. 

After  fifteen  years  of  trial,  California  has  discovered 
that  there  was  something  wrong  about  these  promises.  In- 
stead of  having  a  million  Angora  goats  of  nearly  pure  blood, 


AGRICULTURE.  291 

and  of  exporting  several  million  pounds  of  the  wool,  we  have 
not  exported  so  much  as  the  imported  animals  should  have  pro- 
duced :  we  have  only  about  three  hundred  animals  that  deserve 
to  be  called  Angora  goats.  There  are  18,000  grade  goats 
crossed  with  the  common  stock ;  but  so  far  as  experience  has 
as  yet  determined,  they  are  worthless  for  wool.  Whether  the 
Angora  goats  can  be  bred  with  a  profit  in  California,  is  still 
a  problem.  They  will  live  and  multiply  in  some  places  where 
sheep  will  not.  Thus,  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  there  is  a  strip 
twenty  miles  wide  between  500  and  5,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
where,  on  account  of  the  abundance  of  brush,  sheep  will  not 
thrive.  The  Cashmere  goats  prefer  browsing  to  grazing,  and 
they  eat  the  foliage  of  all  the  bushes  except  the  poison  oak, 
standing  upon  their  hind  feet  to  reach  as  far  as  possible  on  the 
chaparral  and  manzanita.  The  goats  keep  together  and  come 
home  at  night ;  and  it  is  said  that  one  man  can  herd  2,000 
of  them  with  less  trouble  than  two  men  can  herd  2,000  sheep. 
They  have  no  disease  except  that  a  few  have  been  poisoned — 
it  is  supposed  by  eating  dry  buckeyes. 

§  213.  Poultry. — Poultry  command  very  high  prices  in  this 
State,  but  all  attempts  to  breed  them  on  a  large  scale  have 
proved  unprofitable.  Hens  are  worth  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  cents  each,  and  eggs  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents  per 
dozen.  Chickens  are  healthy  and  increase  rapidly  in  small 
poultry-yards  or  farms ;  but  when  more  than  five  hundred  are 
collected  a  fatal  epidemic  appears,  and  they  die  off.  The  dis- 
ease seems  to  be  a  kind  of  apoplexy,  for  it  attacks  the  fattest 
chickens,  and  they  die  suddenly.  Several  large  henneries  have 
been  established,  but  all  have  failed ;  that  is,  so  far  as  their 
purpose  was  the  production  of  eggs  and  chickens  for  the  table 
with  a  profit. 

§  214.  Bees.— It  was  supposed,  before  1853,  that  the  honey- 
bee would  not  thrive  in  a  climate  so  dry  as  that  of  California  ; 
but  some  hives  brought  to  the  State  in  that  year,  proved  the 
error  of  the  supposition.  A  good  hive  will  increase  in  num- 


292  KESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

ber,  and  store  honey,  twice  as  rapidly  as  in  New  York.  Bees 
here  are  not  idle  during  six  months  of  the  year  as  there,  but 
busy  during  nine  or  ten  months.  They  find  their  food  in  wild 
and  cultivated  flowers,  in  the  blossoms  of  manzanita  bushes, 
fruit-trees,  grasses,  clovers,  and  grains,  in  grapes,  fruits,  and 
honey-dew.  They  seem  to  thrive  in  the  dryest  portions 
of  the  State,  where  there  are  DO  cultivated  fields  and  no 
flowers  or  green  herbage.  They  are  very  fond  of  apricots, 
which  they  eat  in  places  where  the  skin  has  been  previously 
cut  through  by  bugs.  When  the  latter  have  made  a  hole, 
the  bees  come  and  eat  side  by  side  with  the  bugs,  which  are 
of  the  "  lady-bug"  kind,  and  other  similar  species.  Many  of 
the  bees  lose  their  lives  in  consequence  of  their  fondness  for 
the  apricot.  Either  they  eat  too  much,  or  they  eat  the  meat 
after  it  has  passed  into  the  alcoholic  fermentation  ;  but  wheth- 
er intoxicated  or  surfeited,  they  are  unable  to  get  home,  and 
they  perish  during  the  night.  In  places  where  the  honey-dew 
is  abundant,  especially  in  the  mountains  on  the  eastern  border 
of  the  Tulare  Valley,  the  bees  make  honey  very  rapidly.  In: 
deed,  it  has  been  the  custom  of  several  bee-keepers  in  Califor- 
nia to  move  their  bees  about  from  place  to  place,  according 
to  the  pasture  and  the  season.  Many  swarms  have  gone  off 
into  the  mountains,  where  they  occupy  holes  in  trees  and  clefts 
in  rocks.  The  mountain  honey  resembles  in  taste  that  of  the 
Eastern  States  and  Northern  Europe,  while  that  made  in  the 
Coast  Valleys  has  a  peculiar  flavor,  which,  it  is  said,  is  much 
like  the  honey  of  Mount  Hymettus,  where  the  bees  have  ac- 
cess to  a  great  variety  of  wild  flowers. 

The  State  has  30,000  bee-hives,  including  3,000  each  in  Mon- 
terey and  Los  Angeles  Counties,  2,000  in  San  Diego,  1,500  in 
Sacramento,  and  1,000  each  in  San  Joaquin,  Santa  Clara,  and 
Siskiyou.  The  hives  are  increasing  in  number  more  rapidly  in 
Los  Angeles  and  San  Diego  than  in  any  other  district.  It  is 
not  rare  for  a  hive  to  make  two  hundred  pounds  of  honey  in 
a  season.  The  bees  are  exposed  to  constant  danger  from  the 


AGRICULTURE.  293 

bee-moth,  and  also  from  the  bee-bird  and  lizard.  The  last 
two  eat  the  bees  while  they  are  on  the  flowers ;  but  the  chief 
enemy  is  the  moth,  which  gets  into  the  hives  and  soon  ruins 
them,  if  not  discovered  and  ejected.  On  account  of  its  dep- 
redations, the  hives  are  usually  unprofitable  in  the  hands  of 
persons  who  do  not  understand  the  business. 

Many  swarms  of  bees  have  gone  off  and  made  homes  for 
themselves  in  hollow  trees  and  clefts  of  rocks  ;  and  in  several 
of  the  southern  counties  these  wild  swarms  are  so  numerous 
that  some  persons  find  it  profitable,  to  hunt  for  them,  and  take 
their  honey,  and  transfer  the  bees  to  their  hives.  The  Los 
Angeles  News  thus  Describes  the  bee-hunter's  plan  : 

"  Proceeding  out  of  the  range  of  the  pasturage  of  his  own 
bees,  he  places  a  piece  of  burning  wax  on  the  ground,  and 
adjacent  to  it  he  deposits  a  little  honey.  If  there  are  any 
bees  in  the  vicinity,  the  burning  wax  attracts  them  to  the 
spot,  and  they  sx>on  alight  upon  the  honey.  The  hunter 
watches  the  bee  until  it  obtains  its  fill,  when  it  at  once  takes 
flight  for  its  hive.  Sometimes  he  waits  the  return  of  the  bee, 
which  never  fails  so  to  do,  accompanied  by  several  of  its  con- 
federates. Some  of  these  the  hunter  captures,  and  places  in  a 
box.  He  then  proceeds  in  the  direction  taken  by  the  fir^t  bee. 
Having  gone  far  enough,  according  to  his  judgment,  he  liber- 
ates one  of  the  bees  held  captive,  which  flies  onward  in  case 
the  hive  is  not  already  past ;  if  otherwise,  the  bee  returns,  and 
the  hunter  has  to  retrace  his  steps.  Whenever  he  deems  it 
necessary,  the  process  of  wax-burning  is  repeated.  By  these 
means  it  seldom  takes  many  hours  for  the  hunter  to  find  the 
cave,  rob  it  of  comb,  honey,  and  swarm,  and  carry  all  tri- 
umphantly to  his  own  apiary." 

In  the  San  Fernando  Mountain,  an  immense  swarm,  or  a 
cluster  of  swarms,  has  established  itself  in  a  cleft  of  rock,  and 
has  collected  a  stock  of  honey  estimated  to  weigh  sixty 
tons. 


294  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

§  215.  Sericulture. — Sericulture  will  probably  become  an 
important  branch  of  California!!  agriculture.  China,  Japan, 
France,  and  Italy,  which  are  now  the  chief  producers  of  raw 
silk,  have  thunder-storms  and  rains  in  summer,  both  very  in- 
jurious to  the  young  worm.  Besides,  our  winters  are  not  so 
cold,  nor  are  our  summers  near  the  coast  so  hot,  as  at  Lyons 
and  Milan,  the  centers  of  the  chief  silk  districts  of  Europe. 
The  great  drawback  of  that  continent  is,  however,  the  bom- 
byx  plague,  which  attacks  nearly  all  the  worms  hatched  from 
eggs  laid  there  ;  and  for  the  last  ten  years  the  French  and  Ital- 

oO  v 

ian  silk-growers  have  been  compelled  to  import  eggs  from  re- 
mote countries,  getting  a  large  part  of  their  supply  from 
Japan,  and  of  late  years  expending  as  much  as  $8,000,000 
annually  in  these  purchases.  It  is  believed  that  California  can 
furnish  all  the  eggs  needed  by  Europe  at  greater  protit  than 
any  other  country,  and  that  in  a  few  years  she  will  be  able  to 
work  up  her  own  raw  silk. 

Silk  worms  have  been  bred  here  every  year  since  1860,  but 
the  business  has  not  yet  reached  a  steady  and  solid  basis. 
Previous  to  1867  it  was  experimental,  but  in  that  year  an  ex- 
citement was  caused  by  a  State  premium,  offering  large  money 
prizes  for  every  plantation  of  mulberry  trees,  and  for  every 
large  lot  of  cocoons,  in  proportion  to  their  number.  No  re- 
striction was  made  in  the  matter  of  quality,  and  some  persons 
imagined  that  they  could  plant  their  trees  as  thick  as  in  a 
nursery,  that  they  could  get  as  much  premium  for  the  poorest 
trivoltene  cocoons  after  they  had  been  hatched  out,  as  for  the 
best  French  animals  prepared  for  reeling.  Under  this  stimu- 
lus, the  State  produced  1,000,000  cocoons  in  1868,  3,000,000  in 
1869,  and  12,000,000  in  1870,  when  the  premium  fever  came 
to  an  end.  and  the  bubble  burst.  It  was  found  that  many  of 
the  so-called  mulberry  plantations  were  mere  nurseries,  and 
were  besides  planted  in  wet  places,  where  the  worms  could 
never  thrive.  As  a  consequence,  a  large  proportion  of  them 


AGRICULTURE.  295 

died ;  and  many  of  the  plantations  have  been  dug  up,  and  the 
cocooneries  have  been  used  for  other  purposes.  There  are  now 
cocooneries  at  Sonoma,  Mayfield,  Crystal  Springs,  Nevada, 
Santa  Clara,  Santa  Barbara,  and  Los  Angeles;  and  about 
2,000,000  cocoons  have  been  made  in  1873. 


296  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MINING. 

§  216.  Mining  Products. — Mining  was  until  about  1860 
the  chief  industry  of  the  State,  but  it  has  now  been  surpassed 
by  both  agriculture  and  manufactures.  The  annual  products 
of  mining  in  California  may  be  thus  stated  :  Gold  $20,000,- 
000,  lead  $300,000,  silver  $1,000,000,  quicksilver  $3,000,000, 
coal  $800,000,  borax  $100,000,  asphaltum  $50,000,  petroleum 
$10,000,  sulphur  $50,000,  and  copper  $100,000.  The  pro- 
duction of  petroleum  and  borax  is  just  commencing,  and  the 
yield  of  sulphur  and  copper  is  very  irregular.  The  total  is 
$25,400,000. 

§  217.  Number  of  Gold  Miners. — We  have  no  official 
statistics  of  the  number  of  gold  miners  in  California,  so  we 
must  ascertain  the  number  by  calculation  from  various  sources. 

The  number  of  votes  cast  in  1872,  and  the  number  of 
Chinamen  in  the  gold  mining  counties  in  1870,  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Counties.  Vote&.    Chinamen. 

Amador 1,760  1*619 

Butte 1,219  2,070 

Calaveras •  1,659  1,431 

Del  Norte 238  216 

El  Dorado 2,402  1,551 

Kern 459  142 

Klamath 205  542 

Mariposa 763  I*0?1 


MINING.  297 

Counties.  Votes.     Chinamen. 

Mono 138  41 

Nevada 3,472  2,617 

Placer 2,255  2,401 

Plumes 792  908 

San  Bernardino 509  16 

San  Diego 873  71 

Shasta 821  574 

Sierra 1,300  809 

Siskiyou 1,372  1,439 

Stanislaus 1,130  305 

Trinity -652  1,095 

Tuolumne 1,536  1,511 

Yuba 2,015  2,324 


Total 25,567  22,760 

The  number  of  votes  cast  at  the  last  Presidential  election 
is  probably  within  one- tenth  of  the  total  adult  white  males; 
so  that,  if  we  allow  28,000  for  the  white  men,  we  shall 
have,  with  the  Chinamen,  about  50,000  men  in  these 
counties.  It  will  be  observed  that  we  have  excluded 
Los  Angeles  and  Merced,  which  have  a  few  gold  mines,  and 
Inyo  and  Alpine,  which  work  no  mines  save  those  of  silver. 
We  have  included  San  Bernardino  and  San  Diego,  in  which 
mining  is  one  of  the  chief  industries,  and  Stanislaus  and  Yuba, 
in  which,  though  the  placers  now  yield  little,  they  were  once 
important. 

Of  the  50,000  men  in  the  auriferous  districts  of  California, 
there  are  not  30,000  now  engaged  in  gold  mining.  Some  of 
those  counties  which,  fifteen  years  ago,  were  exclusively  de- 
voted to  gold  mining,  are  now  predominantly  agricultural.  In 
Siskiyou,  Tuolumne,  Shasta,  and  Plumas,  one  white  man  out 
of  two  may  work  in  a  mine ;  in  El  Dorado,  Placer,  and  Cal- 
averas,  one  in  three  ;  in  Kern,  San  Diego,  and  San  Bernardino, 
one  in  four ;  in  Yuba,  Butte,  and  Stanislaus,  one  in  live.  If 
we  allow  that  18,000,  or  four-fifths  of  the  Chinamen,  and 
12,000,  or  nearly  half  of  the  white  men,  are  miners — and  these 


298  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

are  very  liberal  estimates — we  shall  have  a  total  of  30,000 
gold  miners.  Miners  may  average  250  days  of  work  in  a 
year,  and  the  30,000  multiplied  by  that  figure  would  give 
7,500,000  days'  work  in  a  year,  or  $266  per  day  on  an  average. 
That  sum  is  not  discreditably  small. 

§  218.  Profit  of  Gold  Mining.— The  statement  has  been 
made  that  the  gold  produced  in  California  cost  more  than  it 
was  worth.  That  gold  mining  was  profitable  to  the  miners,  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  business  has  been  maintained  now 
for  nearly  twenty-five  years ;  and  those  who  were  engaged  in 
it,  as  a  class,  have  abundant  reason  to  be  pleased  with  their 
experience.  Mining  has  certainly  not  been  a  source  of  loss  to 
the  State,  which  would  have  been  little  better  than  a  desert  to 
this  day,  if  the  auriferous  deposits  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  had 
not  been  discovered.  It  was  the  gold  yield  that  filled  our 
valleys  with  people,  planted  our  orchards  and  vineyards,  built 
our  cities,  the  Panama  Railroad,  our  transcontinental  railroad, 
and  our  Coast  railroad  system  ;  that  established  the  mail 
steamer  line  to  China  ;  that  opened  Japan  to  civilization  and 
trade,  and  that  filled  the  North  Pacific  with  commerce. 
Without  the  help  of  this  magician,  San  Francisco  Bay  would 
probably  have  been  of  no  more  importance  in  the  business  of 
the  United  States,  than  Puget  Sound  is  now. 

The  American  Union,  as  a  whole,  has  been  greatly  bene- 
fitted  by  the  mines,  which,  though  they  drew  away  a  large 
number  of  the  most  intelligent  and  active  men  from  the  At- 
lantic slope,  yet  gave  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  all  branches  of 
industry,  called  out  energies  that  would  otherwise  have  been 
dormant,  attracted  hundreds  of  thousands  of  immigrants,  gave 
the  nation  increased  influence  in  the  world,  and  poured  into 
her  lap  more  riches  than  had  ever  before  been  derived  from 
one  source  within  so  short  a  time  from  its  start,  and  by  so  few 
laborers.  The  addition  of  $1,000,000,000  in  gold  'to  the 
wealth  of  our  nation  within  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
by  50,000  miners,  contributed  much  to  raise  America  to  the 


MINING.  .  299 

position  which  she  now  holds  in  the  industry  and  commerce  of 
the  world.  Other  nations  did  not  profit  so  much,  and  some  of 
them  no  doubt  lost,  for  they  were  compelled  to  give  ten  days' 
work  in  their  products  for  the  gold  obtained  here  in  one  day's 
work. 

§  219.  Gold  Yield.— -The  gold  mines  of  the  Sierra  Nevada 
were  discovered  on  the  19th  of  January,  1849  ;  were  first 
worked  in  May  of  that  year ;  immediately  began  to  be  very 
productive  in  proportion  to  the  men  employed  ;  and  five  years 
later  reached  their  greatest  yield,  which  was  about  $65,000,- 
000  in  1853 ;  and  since,  have  been  turning  out  less  and  less 
every  year,  excepting  such  irregularities  as  may  arise  from 
unequal  seasons.  The  statistics  of  the  annual  exportation  of 
treasure  as  manifested  at  the  San  Francisco  Custom  House, 
and  given  in  the  chapter  on  commerce,  omit  much  that  belong 
to  the  gold  yield  of  California,  and  contain  much  that  does 
not  belong  to  it.  From  1852  to  1860  large  sums  were  carried 
away  in  dust  by  miners  returning  to  the  Eastern  States,  with- 
out report  to  the  Custom  House  ;  and  since  1860  large  quanti- 
ties of  treasure  from  Idaho  and  Nevada  have  been  made  part 
of  the  exports  from  San  Francisco.  It  is  safe  to  estimate  the 
total  gold  product  of  California  in  the  twenty-five  years, 
from  the  1st  of  July,  1848,  to  the  30th  of  June,  1873,  at 
$1,000,000,000. 

§  220.  Gold  Mines. — Our  gold  mines  are  divided  into 
placer  and  quartz.  In  the  former,  the  metal  is  found  imbedded 
in  layers  of  earthy  matter,  such  as  clay,  sand,  and  gravel ;  in 
the  latter,  it  is  encased  in  veins  of  rock.  The  methods  of  min- 
ing must  be  adapted  to  the  size  of  the  particles  of  gold,  and 
the  nature  of  the  material  in  which  they  are  found.  In  placer 
mining,  the  earthy  matter  containing  the  gold,  called  "  pay- 
dirt,"  is  washed  in  water,  which  dissolves  the  clay  and  carries 
it  off  in  solution,  and  the  current  sweeps  away  the  sand,  gravel, 
and  stones ;  while  the  gold,  by  reason  of  its  higher  specific 
gravity,  remains  in  the  channel,  or  is  caught  with  quicksilver. 


300  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

In  quartz  mining,  the  auriferous  rock  is  ground  to  a  very  fine 
powder,  the  gold  in  which  is  caught  in  quicksilver,  or  on  the 
rough  surface  of  a  blanket,  over  which  the  fine  material  is 
borne  by  a  stream  of  water.  About  two-thirds  of  our  gold 
is  obtained  from  the  placers,  and  one-third  from  the  quartz. 

A  mine  is  defined  in  our  dictionaries  to  be  ".a  subterraneous 
work  or  excavation  for  obtaining  metals,  metallic  ores,  or  min- 
eral substances  ";  but  this  definition  does  not  apply  to  our  placer 
mines,  which  are  places  where  gold  is  taken  from  alluvial  de- 
posits. Most  of  the  work  is  not  subterraneous  ;  it  is  done  in 
the  full  light  of  day.  In  some  of  the  claims  the  pay-dirt  lies 
within  two  feet  of  the  surface  ;  in  others  it  lies  much  deeper, 
but  all  the  superincumbent  matter  is  usually  swept  away. 

§  221.  Placers. — Placer  mines  are  divided  into  many  clas- 
sifications. The  first  and  most  important  is  into  deep  and 
shallow.  In  the  former  the  pay-dirt  is  found  deep,  twenty 
feet  or  more  beneath  the  surface ;  in  the  latter  near  the  surface. 
The  shallow  or  surface  diggings  are  chiefly  found  in  the  beds 
of  ravines  or  gullies,  in  the  bars  of  rivers,  and  in  shallow  flats. 
The  pay-dirt  is  usually  covered  by  layers  of  barren  dirt,  which 
is  sometimes  washed,  and  sometimes  left  undisturbed,  while 
the  pay-dirt  is  taken  out  from  underneath  it  by  tunnels  or 
shafts.  So  far  as  our  present  information  goes,  we  have  rea- 
son to  believe  that  no  gold  country  ever  possessed  so  large  an 
extent  of  paying  placer  mines,  with  the  pay-dirt  so  near  the 
surface,  and  with  so  many  facilities  for  working  them,  as  Cali- 
fornia. In  Australia,  the  diggings  are  very  deep  and  spotted, 
that  is,  the  gold  is  unevenly  distributed,  and  the  supply  of 
water  for  mining  is  scanty.  In  Siberia,  the  winter  is  terribly 
cold  during  six  months  of  the  year.  In  Brazil,  the  diggings 
were  not  so  extensive  nor  so  rich  as  in  this  State.  Here  we 
have  numerous  large  streams  coming  down  through  the  min- 
ing districts,  very  large  bodies  of  pay-dirt,  and  a  mild  climate. 

After  dividing  placers  into  deep  and  shallow,  the  next  clas- 
sification will  be  according  to  their  topographical  position,  as 


MINING.  301 

into  hill,  flat,  bench,  bar,  river-bed,  ancient  river-bed,  and 
gulch  mines.  Hill  diggings  are  those  where  the  pay-dirt  is  in 
or  under  a  hill.  Flat  diggings  are  in  a  flat.  Bench  diggings 
are  in  a  "  bench,"  or  narrow  table  on  the  side  of  a  hill  above 
a  river.  Benches  of  this  kind  are  not  uncommon  in  Califor- 
nia, and  they  often  indicate  the  place  where  the  stream  ran 
in  some  very  remote  age.  Bars  are  low  collections  of  sand 
and  gravel  at  the  side  of  a  river,  and  above  its  surface  at  low 
water.  River-bed  claims  are  those  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
river  at  low  water,  and  access  is  obtained  to  them  only  by  re- 
moving the  water  from  the  beds  by  flumes  or  ditches.  An- 
cient river-bed  claims  are  those  in  which  the  gold  was  de- 
posited by  streams,  in  places  where  no  streams  now  exist. 
Gulch  claims  are  those  in  gullies  which  have  no  water  save 
during  a  small  part  of  the  year.  A  "  claim "  is  the  mining 
land  owned  or  held  by  one  man  or  a  company. 

The  placer  mines  are  again  classified  according  to  the  in- 
struments with  which  they  are  wrought.  There  are  sluice 
claims,  hydraulic  claims,  tunnel  claims,  dry  washing,  dry  dig- 
ging, and  knife  claims.  In  1849  and  1850,  the  main  classifi- 
cation of  the  placers  was  into  wet  diggings  and  dry  diggings ; 
the  former  meaning  mines  in  the  bars  and  beds  of  rivers,  and 
dry  diggings  were  those  in  gullies  and  flats,  where  water  could 
be  obtained  only  part  of  the  year,  or  not  at  all.  That  classifi- 
cation was  made  while  nearly  all  the  mining  was  done  near 
the  surface,  before  the  great  deposits  of  pay  dirt  in  the  hills 
had  been  discovered,  and  before  ditches,  sluices,  and  the  hy- 
draulic process  had  been  introduced.  The  "  dry  diggings," 
which  for  several  years  furnished  nearly  half  of  the  gold 
yield  of  the  State,  are  now,  with  a  few  unimportant  excep- 
tions, exhausted,  or  left  to  the  attention  of  the  Chinamen. 

The  purpose  of  all  placer  miners  is  not  to  catch  all  the  gold 
in  the  dirt  which  they  wash,  but  to  catch  the  greatest  possible 
quantity  within  a  given  time.  It  is  not  supposed  that  any 
process  used  in  gold  mining  catches  all  the  metal.  Part  of  it  is 


302  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

lost ;  in  some  processess  a  considerable  proportion.  The  general 
estimate  in  California  is,  that  one-twentieth  of  the  gold  in  the 
dirt  which  is  washed  is  lost.  Many  of  the  particles  are  so 
very  small  as  to  be  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  so  light 
that  their  specific  gravity  does  not  avail  to  prevent  them  from 
being  carried  away  by  the  water,  like  sand.  The  larger  pieces 
will  sink  to  the  bottom  and  resist  the  force  of  the  water ;  the 
smaller  the  particles,  the  greater  the  danger  that  they  will  be 
borne  away.  Many  devices  have  been  tried  to  catch  all  the 
gold,  but  none  have  succeeded  perfectly ;  and  some  which  have 
caught  a  portion  of  what  escaped  from  the  ordinary  modes  of 
mining,  have  been  found  to  cost  more  than  their  yield.  The 
miner  does  not  grieve  about  that  which  he  cannot  catch.  He 
is  not  careful  to  catch  all  that  he  could.  His  purpose  is  to 
draw  the  largest  possible  revenue  per  day  from  his  claim.  He 
does  not  intend  to  spend  many  years  in  mining,  or  if  he  does, 
he  has  become  thriftless  and  improvident.  In  either  case,  he 
wishes  to  derive  the  utmost  immediate  profit  from  his  mine. 
If  his  claim  contain  a  dollar  to  the  ton,  and  he  can  save  five 
dollars  by  slowly  washing  only  six  tons  in  a  day,  while  he 
might  make  ten  dollars  by  rapidly  washing  fifteen  tons  in  a 
day,  he  will  prefer  the  latter  result,  though  he  will  lose  twice 
as  much  of  the  precious  metal  by  the  fast  as  by  the  slow  mode 
of  working.  The  object  of  the  miner  is  the  practical  dispatch 
of  work,  and  his  success  will  depend  to  a  great  extent  upon 
the  amount  of  dirt  which  he  can  wash  within  a  given  space  of 
time.  He  regrets  that  any  of  the  gold  should  be  wasted,  be- 
cause it  escapes  from  his  sluice  and  his  pocket,  not  because  it 
is  lost  to  industry  and  commerce. 

§  222.  Ditches.— Water  is  the  great  agent  of  the  placer 
miner,  and  the  element  of  his  power.  Its  amount  is  the 
measure  of  his  work,  and  its  cost  the  measure  of  his  profit. 
With  an  abundance  of  water  he  can  wash  every  thing  ;  with- 
out water  he  can  do  little  or  nothing.  Placer  mining  is  almost 
entirely  mechanical,  and  of  such  a  kind  that  no  accuracy  of 


MINING.  303 

workmanship  or  scientific  or  literary  education  is  necessary  to 
mastery  in  it.  Nearly  all  the  water  used  by  miners  is  sup- 
plied by  ditches,  which  therefore  occupy  an  important  place  in 
the  mining  of  California.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  without 
them  the  mines  of  the  State  would  be  relatively  insignificant. 
At  least  four-fifths  of  the  gold  is  obtained  with  the  assistance, 
direct  or  indirect,  of  ditch  water.  There  are  very  few  springs  in 
the  mining  regions,  the  bed  rock  being  usually  slate  with  per- 
pendicular cleavage,  through  which  the  water  soaks  down  to 
the  lowest  levels.  The  permanent  streams  are  found  only  at 
long  intervals,  and  run  in  deep,  steep,  and  narrow  channels. 
Nature  has  furnished  no  adequate  supply  of  water  near  the 
surface  for  towns  or  for  quartz  mills ;  so  they,  as  well  as  the 
hydraulic  pipes  and  sluices,  must  depend  upon  ditch  water, 
which  thus  is  an  indispensable  requisite  to  the  production  of 
four-fifths,  perhaps  nineteen-twentieths,  of  the  gold.  It  is  for- 
tunate that  the  mountain  ridge  east  of  the  mining  districts  rises 
high  into  the  region  of  snow,  where  the  moisture  that  falls 
from  the  atmosphere  in  winter  is  condensed  and  retained  until 
summer  and  fall.  But  without  the  ditches,  this  moisture  would 
do  little  good  to  the  miners,  since  there  are  few  cainps  near 
springs  or  on  the  immediate  banks  of  constant  streams. 

§  223.  Flumes. — Flumes  are  usually  made  with  boards,  an 
inch  and  a  half  thick  for  the  bottom,  and  an  inch  and  a 
quarter  thick  for  the  sides.  At  intervals  of  two  and  a  half 
feet  there  is  a  support  for  the  flume  box,  consisting  of  a  sill, 
posts,  and  cap.  The  sills  are  four  inches  square;  the  posts 
three  by  four  inches,  and  the  caps  one  and  a  half  by  four 
inches.  To  erect  a  flume  25  feet  high,  costs  about  twice  as 
much  as  to  lay  one  on  the  level  of  the  ground,  and  at  60  feet 
it  costs  about  four  times  as  much.  The  annual  repair  of  a 
flume  is  about  one-eighth  of  its  original  cost,  in  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. If  the  flume  is  left  dry  several  months,  the 
repairs  may  be  more,  for  the  sun  warps  and  splits  the  boards, 
and  draws  the  nails.  A  flume  box,  40  inches  wide  by  20 


304  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

inches  deep,  with  a  grade  of  13  feet  to  the  mile,  will  carry 
about  800  inches,  and  such  a  flume  built  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground  will  cost  now  at  the  rate  of  $4,000  per  mile,  near  a 
saw-mill.  The  boards  are  put  in  the  flume  rough,  but  are 
always  battened,  and  sometimes  caulked.  The  cheapest  flume 
costs  twice  as  much  as  the  cheapest  ditch  of  the  same  capacity, 
and  the  repairs  of  a  flume  cost  90  per  cent,  more  than  those  of 
a  ditch.  The  duration  of  a  high  flume  is  on  an  average 
about  six  years,  and  of  a  low  one,  eight  or  ten.  For  the  first 
two  or  three  years  after  the  construction  of  a  ditch,  there  is 
much  trouble  from  gopher  holes  and  slides. 

The  flumes  in  the  highest  portions  of  the  Sierra,  and 
especially  about  Rowland  Flat  and  La  Porte,  are  troubled  by 
the  snow,  and  much  labor  is  spent  on  them  every  winter. 
The  weight  of  the  snow  is  so  great  that  after  every  snow- 
storm, or  while  it  is  in  progress,  a  man  must  go  along  and 
clear  the  flume  with  a  shovel.  In  cases  where  the  flume  is  on 
a  hill-side,  it  is  necessary  to  shovel  away  the  snow  from  the 
upper  side  of  the  flume,  for  the  mass  moves  down  hill  with 
tremendous  weight,  though  with  very  slow  motion,  and  no 
flume  could  resist  it. 

§  224.     Iron  Pipe. — The  use  of  iron  pipe  in  the  form  of 
an  inverted  siphon,  instead  of  a  high  flume,  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  water  across  ravines,  has  been  a  great  improvement 
and  saving  in  the  ditch  business.     Near  Placerville,  water  is 
carried  across  a  depression  190  feet  deep  and  1,600  feet  long, 
in  a  pipe  that  cost  $900,  whereas  a  flume  would  have  cost 
$25,000.     Not  only  is  it  cheaper,  but  it  can  be  used  where 
fluming  is  pecuniarily  impossible,  as  in  crossing  ravines  400  feet 
deep. 

The  sheet  iron  used  in  making  pipe,  comes  in  sheets  two 
feet  wide  and  six  feet  long.  The  common  sizes  of  pipe  are  7 
and  11  inches  in  diameter,  made  in  joints  two  feet  long.  A 
sheet  makes  two  joints  of  11 -inch  pipe,  and  three  of  seven- 
inch,  and  11  joints  are  riveted  together  to  make  a  section  20J 


MINING.  305 

feet  long.  At  the  end  of  each  section,  as  pipes  are  usually 
made,  there  is  an  ear  or  hook  riveted  on  each  side,  and  when 
the  foot  of  one  section  is  thrust  into  the  head  of  another,  a 
wire  is  wrapped  round  the  opposite  ears  or  hooks  to  tie  the 
sections  together.  In  case  a  pipe  is  laid  on  a  hill-side  running 
down,  each  section  is  tied  at  the  head  to  a  post,  to  keep  it 
in  place ;  and  the  post  may  be  supported  by  a  board,  placed 
edgewise  and  crosswise  in  the  ground.  About  an  inch  and  a 
half  of  space  is  allowed  for  the  lap  at  the  end  of  the  sections. 
The  ends  need  to  be  made  with  precision,  so  that  they  will  be 
water-tight,  without  packing.  The  pipe  should  be  put  together 
in  a  straight  line,  and  the  sections  should  be  driven  together 
with  a  sledge  hammer,  striking  a  board  laid  across  the  end  of 
the  section.  The  pipe  needs  to  be  coated  with  tar  to  preserve 
it,  and  if  very  large  it  may  be  coated  inside  as  well  as  out. 

The  cost  of  11-inch  pipe  made  of  No.  20  iron  is  about' 75= 
cents  per  foot.  The  thickness  of  the  iron  depends  upon  the 
amount  of  pressure  and  the  size  of  the  pipe.  The  larger  the 
pipe,  the  thicker  the  iron  should  be.  The  pressure  at  190  feet 
is  88  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  No.  20  iron  is  strong  enough 
for  that,  if  the  pipe  be  not  more  than  1 1  inches  in  diameter. 

§  225.  Expensive  Construction. — The  first  experiments  in 
ditching  in  1850  were  magnificently  successful.  The  canals 
were  short  and  small,  and  the  water  was  either  sold  at  a  very 
high  price,  or  was  used  in  working  out  rich  claims.  It  was 
not  uncommon  for  several  years  for  little  ditches  to  repay  the 
cost  of  construction  in  a  couple  of  months.  It  was  supposed 
that  the  right  to  the  water  of  a  good  stream  would  be  worth 
a  fortune.  The  merchants  in  each  town  considered  it  their 
interest  to  encourage  and  assist  the  miners  to  bring  in  water, 
so  as  to  increase  the  population,  gold  production,  and  trade. 
The  country  was  full  of  enterprise  and  money,  for  which  there 
was  not  much  other  use.  Numerous  ditch  companies  were 
formed,  to  bring  water  from  the  elevated  regions  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  many  had  invested  too  much  to  withdraw  before 
20 


306  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

any  of  them  had  learned  the  business  before  them  by  exper- 
ience. The  work  was  done  when  labor  was  very  high  ;  the 
price  for  common  laborers  being  $8  per  day,  and  lumber  was 
$100  per  thousand  feet.  Before  the  canals  were  finished, 
wages  had  fallen  50  per  cent,  or  more,  and  the  work  done  was 
worth  in  the  market  only  half  its  cost.  Besides,  in  1851  and 
1852  the  common  price  for  water  was  50  cents  or  $1  an  inch, 
and  the  ditch  companies  made  their  calculations  upon  charging 
those  figures ;  but  before  the  completion  of  the  ditches  the  best 
claims  in  the  ravines  had  been  exhausted,  and  there  was  not 
enough  rich  ground  left  to  pay  high  prices  for  all  the  water. 
Flumes  which  do  not  last  more  than  ten,  and  sometimes  become 
worthless  in  six  years,  were  used  to  cross  deep  chasms  where 
iron  pipe  would  have  been  much  better  and  cheaper.  Some  of 
these  structures  were  wonderful  works.  The  Golden  Rock 
flume  near  Big  Oak  Flat  was  256  feet  high,  and  supported  by 
an  immense  trestle-work  ;  and  after  it  was  blown  down,  a 
durable  iron  pipe  at  less  than  a  quarter  of  the  cost  supplied 
its  place  equally  well.  On  account  of  the  bad  engineering 
and  the  inexperience  of  the  early  ditch  builders,  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  placers,  and  other  causes,  the  mining  ditches  which 
cost  not  less  than  $20,000,000  are  now  worth  probably  not 
more  than  $2,000,000.  The  total  number  of  mining  ditches 
in  1871,  according  to  the  State  Surveyor  General's  report,  was 
516,  and  their  aggregate  length  4,800  miles,  and  their  daily 
supply  of  water  171,000  inches. 

§  226.  Measurement  of  Water. — Water  is  sold  by  the  inch, 
and  usually  an  inch  is  the  amount  which  escapes  through  an 
orifice  an  inch  square,  with  the  water  six  inches  deep  above 
the  top  of  the  orifice.  That  is  called  a  six-inch  head  or 
pressure.  If  a  large  quantity  is  sold,  the  orifice  may  be  two 
or  three  inches  high.  The  mode  of  measurement,  however,  is 
not  uniform.  In  some  places  the  pressure  is  nine  or  ten  inches ; 
in  others  there  is  no  pressure,  but  the  quantity  that  escapes 
.through  an  orifice  an  inch  wide,  and  three  inches  high,  with- 
out pressure,  is  called  an  inch. 


MINING.  307 

In  calculations  made  by  machinists  it  is  often  necessary  to 
use  the  term  "  an  inch  of  water,"  and  by  common  consent 
that  phrase  is  accepted  now  to  mean  a  supply  of  two  and  one- 
third  cubic  feet  of  water  passing  a  given  point  in  a  minute  of 
time,  equivalent  to  21,000  gallons  in  24  hours.  The  mining 
ditches  of  the  State  carry  171,000  inches  in  the  aggregate,  but 
much  of  this  is  used  for  only  ten  hours  a  day,  and  we  may 
consider  it  equal  to  100,000  inches  running  24  hours,  or  2,000,- 
000,000  gallons  a  day,  more  than  all  the  great  city  aqueducts 
of  Europe  supply.  Single  hydraulic  claims  use  3,000  inches 
each,  or  60,000,000  gallons  daily ;  or  more  than  New  York 
City  with  nearly  a  million  inhabitants  gets  from  Croton 
aqueduct.  The  price  of  water,  as  sold  by  the  mining  ditch 
companies,  varies  from  five  to  twenty  cents  per  inch  for  ten 
hours,  the  average  being  about  ten  cents. 

§  227.  Gleaning  up. — The  separation  of  the  gold,  amalgam, 
and  quicksilver,  from  the  dirt  in  the  bottom  of  the  sluice,  is 
called  "  cleaning  up  "  ;  and  the  period  between  one  "  clean- 
ing up  "  and  another  is  called  a  "  run."  A  run  in  a  common 
board-sluice  usually  lasts  from  six  to  ten  days ;  in  a  large  hy- 
draulic claim,  one  month.  Ordinarily  the  sluice  runs  only 
during  daylight,  but  in  hydraulic  claims  the  work  continues 
night  and  day.  Cleaning  up  occupies  from  half  a  day  to  three 
days,  and  therefore  must  not  be  repeated  very  often,  because 
it  consumes  much  time.  In  some  sluices  the  cleaning  up 
does  not  occur  until  the  bed  of  the  sluice  has  been  worn 
out  or  much  bruised  by  the  wear  of  the  stones  and  gravel. 
Cleaning  up  in  small  sluices  is  considered  light  and  pleasant 
work,  and  is  often  reserved  for  Sunday.  At  the  time  fixed 
the  throwing  in  of  dirt  ceases,  the  water  runs  until  it  becomes 
clear,  the  false  bottom  of  the  sluice  is  taken  up  in  sections, 
and  the  heavy  sand,  amalgam,  and  quicksilver,  taken  up  in 
pans.  After  separating  the  sand,  the  quicksilver  and  amalgam 
from  the  sluice  are  put  into  a  buckskin  cloth,  and  pressed,  so 
that  the  liquid  metal  passes  through,  and  the  amalgam  is  re- 


308  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

lained.  The  amalgam  is  then  heated,  to  drive  off  the  mercury. 
This  may  be  done  either  in  an  open  pan  or  in  a  close  retort.  In 
the  former,  the  quicksilver  is  lost ;  in  the  latter,  it  is  saved- 
The  pan  is  generally  preferred.  Often  a  shovel  or  plate  of 
iron  is  used.  Three  pounds  of  amalgam,  from  which  the 
liquid  metal  has  been  carefully  pressed  out,  will  yield  one 
pound  of  gold.  The  gold  remaining  after  the  quicksilver  has 
been  driven  off  by  heat  from  the  amalgam,  is  a  porous  mass, 
somewhat  resembling  sponge-cake  in  appearance. 

§  228.  JRiffle-Jlars. — The  riffle-bars  used  as  false  bottoms 
in  sluices,  are  usually  sawed  longitudinally  with  the  grain 
of  the  wood,  but  "block  riffle-bars"  are  considered  prefer- 
able ;  the  latter  are  cut  across  the  tree,  and  the  grain  stands 
upright  in  the  sluice-box.  The  block  riffle-bars  are  three  times 
more  durable  than  the  longitudinal ;  and  as  the  latter  kind  are 
worn  out  in  a  week  in  some  large  sluices,  there  is  a  consider- 
able saving  in  using  the  former. 

§  229.  Double  Sluices. — Sluices  are  sometimes  made 
double — that  is,  with  a  longitudinal  division  through  the 
middle,  so  that  there  are  two  distinct  sluice-boxes  side  by 
side.  Two  companies  may  be  working  side  by  side,  so  that  it 
will  be  cheaper  for  them  to  build  their  sluices  jointly.  An- 
other device  for  saving  gold  in  sluices  is  the  "  under-current 
box."  There  is  a  grating  of  iron  bars  in  the  bottom  of  a  box, 
near  the  lower  end  of  a  sluice ;  and  under  this  grating  is  an- 
other sluice,  with  an  additional  supply  of  clean  water,  and 
with  a  lower  grade.  The  grating  allows  only  the  fine  mate- 
rial to  fall  through ;  and  the  current  of  water  being  moder- 
ate, many  particles  of  gold,  that  would  otherwise  be  lost,  are 
saved.  Sometimes  the  matter  from  the  under-current  box  is 
led  back  to  the  main  sluice. 

§  230.  Rock-Sluices. — Large  sluices  are  frequently  paved 
with  stone,  which  makes  a  more  durable  false  bottom  than 
wood,  and  catches  fine  gold  better  than  riffle-bars.  The  stone 
bottoms  have  another  advantage — that  it  is  not  so  easy  for 


MINING.  309 

thieves  to  come  and  clean  up  at  night,  as  is  often  done  in  riffle- 
bar  sluices.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  cleaning  up  is  more  diffi- 
cult and  tedious  in  a  rock-sluice,  and  so  is  the  putting  down  of 
the  false  bottom  after  cleaning  up.  The  stones  used  are  cob- 
bles, six  or  eight  inches  through  at  the  greatest  diameter,  and 
usually  liattish.  A  good  workman  will  pave  eight  hundred 
square  feet  of  sluice-box  with  them  in  a  day ;  and  after  the 
water  and  dirt  have  run  over  them  for  an  hour,  they  are  fast- 
ened very  tightly  by  the  sand  collected  between  them.  In 
large  sluices,  wooden  riffle-bars  are  worn  away  very  rapidly — 
the  expense  amounting  sometimes,  in  very  large  and  long 
sluices,  to  twenty  or  thirty  dollars  a  day ;  and  in  this  point 
there  is  an  important  saving  by  using  the  stone  bottoms. 
They  are  used  only  in  large  sluices,  and  they  generally  have  a 
grade  of  twelve  or  fourteen  inches  to  the  box  of  twelve  feet. 

§  231.  Hydraulic  Washing. — Most  of  the  gold  of  the 
placer  mines  of  California  is  obtained  by  hydraulic  washing — 
that  is,  throwing  water  under  a  strong  pressure  against  the 
banks  of  auriferous  gravel,  which  is  then  carried  by  the  water 
into  a  sluice.  The  hydraulic  process  is  applied  only  in  claims 
where  the  dirt  is  deep  and  where  the  water  is  abundant.  II' 
the  dirt  were  shallow  in  the  claim  and  its  vicinity,  the  neces- 
sary head  of  water  could  not  be  obtained.  Hydraulic  claims 
are  usually  in  hills.  The  water  is  led  along  on  the  hill  at  a 
height  varying  from  fifty  to  five  hundred  feet  above  the  bed- 
rock, to  the  claim  at  the  end  or  side  of  the  hill,  where  the 
water,  playing  against  the  dirt,  soon  cuts  a  large  hole,  with 
perpendicular  or  at  least  steep  banks.  From  the  top  of  the 
bank,  a  hose  or  iron  pipe  extends  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
claim.  The  hose  is  of  heavy  duck,  sometimes  double  sewn,  by 
machine.  When  full,  it  is  from  four  to  ten  inches  in  diameter, 
and  will  bear  a  perpendicular  column  of  water  fifty  feet  high  ; 
but  a  greater  height  will  burst  it.  Now,  as  the  force  of  the 
stream  increases  with  the  height  of  the  water,  it  is  a  matter  of 
great  importance  to  have  the  hose  as  strong  as  possible  ;  and 


310  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

for  tliis  purpose,  in  some  claims,  it  is  surrounded  by  iron  bands, 
which  are  about  two  inches  wide,  and  are  connected  by  four 
ropes  which  run  perpendicularly  down.  The  rings  are  about 
three  inches  apart.  The  "  crinoline  hose,"  thus  made,  is  very 
flexible,  and  will  support  a  column  of  water  one  hundred  and 
fifty  or  two  hundred  feet  high.  The  pipe  at  the  end  of  the  hose 
is  like  the  pipe  of  a  fire-engine  hose,  though  usually  larger. 
Sometimes  the  pipe  will  be  eight  inches  in  diameter  where  it 
connects  with  the  hose,  and  not  more  than  two  inches  at  the 
mouth  ;  and  the  force  with  which  the  stream  rushes  from  it  is 
so  great,  that  it  will  kill  a  man  instantaneously,  and  tear 
down  a  hill  more  rapidly  than  could  a  hundred  men  with 
shovels.  One  or  two  men  are  required  to  hold  the  pipe  when 
it  is  to  be  held  ;  but  usually  it  is  supported  on  a  frame-work. 
These  remarks  apply,  however,  mainly  to  the  small  claims  ;  in 
the  larger  ones,  the  water  is  brought  down  the  hill  in  iron 
pipe,  whence  it  passes  into  a  patent  nozzle  which  will  discharge 
three,  five,  or  eight  hundred  inches  of  water  through  an  orifice 
from  four  to  eight  inches  in  diameter  ;  the  speed,  in  consequence 
of  the  pressure,  being  ten  times  as  great  as  at  the  top  of  the 
hill.  Such  a  stream,  under  a  head  of  three  or  even  five  hund- 
red feet,  has  terrific  force,  and  will  make  boulders  a  foot 
through  jump  twenty  feet  into  the  air,  when  it  strikes  them. 

The  miners  usually  turn  the  stream  upon  the  bank  near  its 
bottom  until  a  large  mass  of  dirt  tumbles  down,  and  then  they 
wash  this  all  away  into  the  sluice ;  when  they  commence  at 
the  bottom  of  the  bank  again,  and  so  on.  If  the  bank  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  the  mass  of  earth  that  tumbles 
down  is  of  course  immense,  and  the  pipemen  must  stand  far 
off  for  fear  that  they  will  be  caught  in  the  avalanche.  Such 
accidents  are  of  daily  occurrence,  and  the  deaths  from  this 
cause  probably  are  not  less  than  a  score  every  year  in  the 
State.  Often  legs  are  broken ;  still  more  frequently  the  pipe- 
men  have  warning,  and  escape  in  time.  When  men  are  bur- 
ied in  the  falling  dirt  the  water  is  used  to  wash  them  out.  In 


MINING.  311 

some  claims,  the  pipe  will  tear  down  more  dirt  than  the  sluice 
can  wash  ;  in  other  claims,  the  sluice  always  demands  more 
dirt  than  the  pipe  can  bring  down.  In  the  latter  case,  blast- 
ing may  be  used  to  loosen  the  dirt,  or  the  miners  may  under- 
mine the  bank,  leaving  a  few  columns  of  dirt  for  support ; 
and  then  these  being  washed  away  by  the  pipe,  the  whole 
bank  comes  tumbling  down. 

In  hydraulic  claims  all  the  dirt  is  washed;  in  all  other 
kinds  of  claims,  such  dirt  as  contains  no  gold  is  thrown  to  one 
side,  or  "  stripped  off."  "  Hydraulic  mining  "  is  the  highest 
branch  of  placer  mining ;  it  washes  more  dirt  and  requires 
more  water,  and  a  larger  sluice,  than  any  other  kind  of  min- 
ing. The  number  of  men  employed  in  a  hydraulic  claim, 
however,  is  usually  small — from  three  to  six — the  water  doing 
nearly  all  the  work.  In  some  claims  a  man  is  constantly  em- 
ployed with  a  heavy  sledge-hammer  in  breaking  up  large 
stones,  so  that  the  pieces  may  be  sent  down  the  sluice.  One 
man  attends  to  the  sluice,  and  sees  that  the  dirt  does  not 
choke  up  in  the  sluice,  or  in  the  claim  above  it. 

The  quantity  of  dirt  that  can  be  washed  with  a  hydraulic 
pipe  depends  upon  various  circumstances — such  as  the  supply 
of  water,  the  height  of  its  fall,  the  toughness  of  the  dirt,  and 
the  amount  of  moisture  in  it.  More  can  be  washed  in  winter 
than  in  summer,  because  the  dirt  is  then  moister,  and  requires 
less  water  to  loosen  and  dissolve  it.  The  quantity  of  water 
used  in  a  hydraulic  claim  is  from  forty  inches  to  three  thous- 
and. With  one  hundred  inches,  at  least  thirty  cubic  yards 
can  be  washed  in  ten  hours,  on  an  average  ;  and  three  men 
can  do  all  the  work.  If  there  were  a  cent's  worth  of  gold  in 
each  cubic  foot,  the  thirty  cubic  yards  would  yield  eight 
dollars  and  ten  cents  per  day,  or  two  dollars  and  seventy 
cents  to  the  man,  exclusive  of  the  cost  of  water.  The  water 
usually  costs  ten  cents  an  inch  per  day,  so  that  one  hund- 
red inches  would  cost  ten  dollars.  Allowing  for  the  water 
at  that  rate,  a  claim  in  which  thirty  cubic  yards  could  be 


312  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

washed  in  a  day  with  one  hundred  inches  of  water,  and  in 
which  the  dirt  contained  five  cents  to  the  cubic  foot,  would 
leave  a  net  pay  of  ten  dollars  and  sixteen  cents  to  each  man 
per  day. 

One  hydraulic  company  washed  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  thousand  cubic  feet  of  dirt  in  six  days,  using  two  hundred 
inches  of  water,  and  employing  ten  men.  The  wages  of  the 
men  amounted,  at  four  dollars  per  day  each,  to  two  hundred 
and  forty  dollars ;  the  water  cost  three  hundred  dollars  ;  and 
the  waste  of  quicksilver,  and  wear  of  sluice,  perhaps  one  hund- 
red dollars  more,  making  a  total  expenditure  of  six  hundred 
and  forty  dollars ;  and  the  gold  obtained  was  three  thousand 
dollars,  leaving  a  clear  profit  of  twenty-three  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  The  dirt  contained  one  cent  and  a  fifth  of  gold 
in  a  cubic  foot. 

Another  company  used  two  thousand  inches  of  water  for  a 
hundred  days  in  washing  down  1,000,000  cubic  yards  of  gravel, 
obtained  $32,000  gross,  or  three  cents  and  a  fifth  to  a  cubic 
yard  of  gravel,  and  netted  $12,000,  or  one  cent  and  a  fifth  to 
a  yard.  The  area  of  the  ground  washed  down  was  1,100  feet 
long,  300  feet  wide,  and  80  feet  deep,  and  the  quantity  of 
gravel  carried  down  every  day  on  an  average  10,000  cubic 
yardsk 

The  greater  the  amount  of  water  used,  the  greater  the  pro- 
portionate amount  of  dirt  that  can  be  washed,  and  the  greater 
the  proportionate  profits.  It  is  far  more  profitable  to  have  a 
large  sluice  than  a  little  one,  if  the  water  and  dirt  can  be  ob- 
tained in  abundance.  Usually,  in  a  hydraulic  claim,  the  dirt 
is  washed  down  to  the  bed-rock ;  but  in  some  places  the  wash- 
ing  stops  far  above  the  bed-rock,  because  there  is  no  outlet  for 
the  water. 

§  232.  Ground-Sluice. — All  the  sluices  hitherto  mentioned 
and  described  have  wooden  boxes,  but  the  ground-sluice  has  no 
box  :  the  water  runs  on  the  ground.  The  place  selected  for  the 
ground-sluice  is  some  spot  where  there  is  a  considerable  supply 


MINING.  313 

of  water,  a  steep  descent  for  it,  and  much  poor  dirt.  The  stream 
is  turned  through  a  little  ditch,  which  the  miners  labor  to  deepen 
and  enlarge  ;  and  when  it  is  deep  they  prize  off  the  high  banks 
so  that  the  dirt  may  fall  down  into  the  ditch.  This  is  a  very 
cheap  and  expeditious  way  of  washing,  but  it  is  not  applied 
extensively. 

§  233.  Cradle.— The  rocker  or  cradle  is  still  less  than  the 
torn  and  inferior  in  capacity.  It  bears  some  resemblance  in 
shape  and  size  to  a  child's  cradle,  and  rests  upon  similar  rock- 
ers. The  cradle-box  is  about  forty  inches  long,  twenty  wide, 
and  four  high,  and  it  stands  with  the  upper  end  about  two 
feet  higher  than  the  lower  end,  which  is  open,  so  that  the  tail- 
ings can  run  out.  On  the  upper  end  of  the  cradle-box  stands 
a  hopper  or  riddle-box,  twenty  inches  square,  with  sides  four 
inches  high.  The  bottom  of  this  riddle-box  is  of  sheet-iron, 
perforated  with  holes  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  riddle- 
box  is  not  nailed  to  the  cradle-box,  but  can  be  lifted  off  with- 
out difficulty.  Under  the  riddle  is  an  "  apron  "  of  wood  or 
cloth,  fastened  to  the-  sides  of  the  cradle-box  and  sloping  down 
to  the  upper  end  of  it.  Across  the  bottom  of  the  cradle-box 
are  two  riffle-bars  about  an  inch  square,  one  in  the  middle,  the 
other  at  the  end  of  the  box.  The  dirt  is  shoveled  into  the 
hopper,  the"  cradler"  sits  down  beside  his  machine,  and  while 
with  one  hand  with  a  ladle  he  j>ours  water  from  a  pool  at  his 
side  upon  the  dirt,  with  the  other  he  rocks  the  cradle.  With 
the  water  and  the  motion  the  dirt  is  dissolved,  and  carried 
down  through  the  riddle,  falling  upon  the  apron,  which  carries 
it  to  the  head  of  the  cradle-box,  whence  it  runs  downward 
and  out,  leaving  its  gold,  black  sand,  and  heavier  particles  of 
sand  and  gravel  behind  the  riffle-bars. 

§  234.  The  Sluice. — The  board-sluice  is  a  long  wooden 
trough,  through  which  a  constant  stream  of  water  runs,  and 
into  which  the  auriferous  dirt  is  thrown.  The  water  carries 
away  the  clay,  sand,  gravel,  and  stones,  and  leaves  the  gold  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sluice,  where  it  is  caught  by  its  gravity  and 


314  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

by  quicksilver.  The  board-sluice  was  for  a  time  the  great 
washing  machine,  and  the  most  important  instrument  used  in 
the  placer  mining  of  California.  It  \vashed  nearly  all  the  dirt, 
and  caught  nearly  all  the  placer  gold.  It  was  invented  here, 
although  it  had  previously  been  used  elsewhere ;  and  it  has 
been  more  extensively  employed  here  than  in  any  other  country. 
It  is  not  less  than  fifty  feet  long,  nor  less  than  a  foot  wide, 
made  of  boards.  The  width  is  usually  sixteen  or  eighteen 
inches,  and  never  exceeds  five  feet.  The  length  is  ordinarily 
several  hundred,  and  sometimes  several  thousand  feet. 

§  235.     Pan. — The  pan  is  used  in  all  branches  of  gold  min- 
ing, either  as  an  instrument  for  washing,  or  as  a  receptacle  for 
gold,  amalgam,  or  rich  dirt.     It  is  made  of  stiff  tin  or  sheet- 
iron,  with  a  flat  bottom  about  a  foot  across,  and  with  sides  six 
inches  high,  rising  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees.     A  little 
variation  in  the  size  or  shape  of  the   pan  will  not  injure  its 
value  for  washing.     Sheet-iron  is  preferable  to  tin,  because  it 
is  usually  stronger  and  does  not  amalgamate  with  mercury. 
The  pan  is  the  simplest  of  all  instruments  used  for  washing 
auriferous  dirt.     Some  dirt,  not  enough  to  fill  it  full,  is  put  in, 
And  the  pan  is  then  put  under  water.    The  earthy  part  of  the  dirt 
!s  rapidly  dissolved  by  the  water,  assisted  by  the  shaking  of  the 
ipan  and  the  roiling  of  the  gravel  from  side  to  side,  and  forms  a 
nud,  which  runs  out  while  clean  water  runs  in.     The  light 
and  flows  out  with  the  thin  mud,  while  the  lumps  of  tough 
ilay  and  the  large  stones  remain.     The  stones  collect  on  the 
op  of  the  clay,  and  they  are  scraped  together  with  the  fingers 
md  thrown  out.     This  process  continues,  the  pan  being  grad- 
lally  raised  in  the  water,  and  its  outer  edge  depressed,  until 
ill  the  earthy  matter  has  been  dissolved,  and  that,  as  well  as 
,he  stones,  swept  away  by  the  water,  while  the  gold  remains  at 
-he  bottom.     Panning  is  not  difficult,  but  it  requires  practice 
:o  learn  the  degree  of  shaking  which  dissolves  the  dirt  and 
throws  out  the  stones  most  rapidly  without,  losing  the  gold. 
Amalgam  can  be  separated  from  dirt,  by  washing,  almost  as 


MINING.  315 

well  as  gold.  In  panning-out,  it  frequently  happens  that  con- 
siderable amounts  of  black  sand  containing  fine  particles  of 
gold  are  obtained,  and  this  sand  is  so  heavy  that  it  cannot  be 
separated  from  the  gold  by  washing,  while  it  is  easily  separated 
in  that  way  from  gravel,  stones,  and  common  dirt.  The  black 
sand  is  dried,  and  a  small  quantity  of  it  placed  in  a  "  blower," 
a  shallow  tin  dish  open  at  one  end.  The  miner  then,  holding 
the  pan  with  the  open  end  from  him,  blows  out  the  sand,  leav- 
ing the  particles  of  gold.  He  must  blow  gently,  just  strong 
enough  to  blow  out  the  sand,  and  no  stronger.  From  time  to 
time  he  must  shake  the  blower  so  as  to  change  the  position  of 
the  particles,  and  bring  all  the  sand  in  the  range  of  his  breath. 
The  gold  cannot  be  cleansed  perfectly  in  this  manner,  but  the 
sand  contains  iron,  and  the  little  of  it  remaining  is  easily  re- 
moved by  a  magnet.  The  blower  should  be  very  smooth,  and 
made  of  either  tin,  brass,  or  copper. 

§  236.  Dry  Washing. — Dry  washing  is  a  method  of  win- 
nowing gold  from  dirt.  In  many  parts  of  the  mining  districts 
of  California,  water  cannot  be  obtained  during  the  summer  for 
mining  purposes.  The  miner  therefore  manages  to  wash  his 
dirt  without  water.  He  takes  only  rich  dirt,  and  putting  it  on 
a  rawhide,  he  pulverizes  all  the  lumps  and  picks  out  the  large 
stones.  He  then  with  a  large  flat  basin  throws  the  dirt  up 
into  the  air,  catches  it  as  it  comes  down,  throws  it  up  again, 
and  repeats  this  operation  until  nothing  but  the  gold  remains. 

§  237.  Pud<Ming-Box. — The  puddling-box  is  a  rough  wooden 
box,  about  a  foot  deep  and  six  feet  square,  and  is  used  for 
dissolving  very  tough  clay.  The  clay  is  thrown  into  the  box, 
with  water,  and  a  miner  stirs  the  stuff  with  a  hoe  until  the 
clay  is  all  thoroughly  dissolved,  when  he  takes  a  plug  from  an 
auger-hole  about  four  inches  from  the  bottom,  and  lets  the 
thin  solution  of  the  clay  run  off,  while  the  heavier  material, 
including  the  gold,  remains  at  the  bottom.  He  then  puts  in 
the  plug  again,  fills  up  the  box  with  water,  throws  in  more 
clay,  and  repeats  the  process  again  and  again  until  night, 


316  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

when  he  cleans  up  with  a  cradle  or  pan.     The  puddling-box  is 
used  in  very  few  places  in  California. 

§  238.  Tunnel  Claims. — Much  of  the  placer  gold  has  been 
obtained  from  tunnel  claims,  most  of  which  have  been  in  the 
beds  of  dead  rivers,  in  places  where  the  pay  dirt  was  covered 
by  a  great  depth  of  barren  or  hard  material,  or  where  the 
supply  of  water  was  not  sufficient  for  hydraulic  washing. 
Thus,  in  the  Tuolumne  Table  Mountain,  tunnels  were  necessary 
to  reach  the  gold.  Among  the  principal  tunnel  mining  camps 
are  Forest  Hill,  Bath,  Alleghany,  Minnesota,  Forest  City, 
Oregon  City,  and  Rowland  Flat,  all  on  the  lines  of  dead 
rivers.  A  tunnel,  in  Californian  mining,  is  an  adit  or  drift 
entering  a  hill-side,  or  running  out  from  a  shaft.  Mining  tun- 
nels are  usually  nearly  horizontal — those  entering  hill-sides 
having  a  slight  ascent,  for  the  double  purpose  of  draining  the 
mine,  and  to  facilitate  the  removal  of  the  pay  dirt.  In  a  few 
hills  the  tunnels  run  downward,  at  an  angle  of  twenty  degrees 
or  more,  to  avoid  veins  or  ledges  of  rock,  which  would  have  to 
be  blasted  through  if  the  tunnel  were  cut  horizontally ;  but 
this  can  only  be  done  with  safety  in  hills  which  are  drained  by 
older  horizontal  tunnels.  The  mining  tunnel  does  not  run 
through  a  hill,  but  only  into  it.  The  length  of  tunnels  varies 
greatly ;  the  longest  are  about  a  mile.  The  usual  height  is 
seven  feet,  the  width  five  feet.  Ordinarily  the  top  must  be 
supported  by  timbers*,  to  prevent  it  from  falling  in,  and  not 
unfrequently  the  sides  must  also  be  protected  by  boards.  The 
cost  of  cutting  a  tunnel  varies  from  two  to  forty  dollars  a 
longitudinal  foot,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  ground,  the 
cost  of  getting  timbers,  etc.  Tunnels  are  frequently  made  by 
companies  of  eight  or  ten  men,  of  whom  one-half  may  bo 
merchants,  lawyers,  physicians,  or  office-holders,  and  the 
remainder  laboring  miners.  The  latter  class  do  the  work ; 
the  former  furnish  provisions  and  tools,  and  a  certain  amount 
of  cash  weekly,  until  the  pay-dirt  is  reached. 


MINING.  317 

§  239.  Shafts. — Shafts  are  used  in  prospecting,  and  also  in 
mining,  where  the  claims  are  deep  and  cannot  be  reached  by 
either  the  hydraulic  process  or  the  tunnel.  The  prospecting 
shaft  is  sometimes  sunk  into  hills  supposed  to  be  auriferous, 
where  the  shaft  is  far  less  expensive  than  the  tunnel.  After 
the  shaft  demonstrates  that  the  dirt  is  rich,  and  precisely  the 
altitude  at  which  it  lies,  a  tunnel  is  cut  to  strike  it.  The  shaft 
may  be  the  cheaper  for  prospecting,  but  the  tunnel  is  usually 
the  cheaper  if  any  large  amount  of  dirt  is  to  be  taken  out. 

The  shaft  is  dug  by  one  man  in  the  hole,  and  one  or  two 
are  employed  at  a  windlass  in  hauling  up  the  dirt.  Mining 
shafts  in  placer  diggings  are  rarely  over  one  hundred  feet 
deep ;  but  one  was  dug  in  Trinity  County  to  the  depth  of  six 
hundred  feet,  for  the  purpose  of  prospecting.  It  found  neither 
pay-dirt  nor  the  bed-rock. 

§  240.  River  Mining. — River  mining  is  mining  for  gold  m 
the  beds  of  rivers,  below  low- water  mark.  The  only  practi- 
cable method  of  doing  this  is  by  damming  the  stream,  and 
taking  the  water  out  of  its  bed  in  a  ditch  or  flume.  It  has 
been  proposed  by  persons  who  never  saw  the  mines,  to  get  the 
gold  by  dredging,  or  with  a  diving-bell ;  but  such  schemes  are 
absurd  in  the  eyes  of  miners.  The  rivers  in  which  the  gold  is 
found  are  mountain-torrents,  in  which  a  canoe  can  scarcely 
float  in  summer,  much  less  a  dredging-machine ;  and  any 
large  scoop  working  under  water  woul(J0niiss  the  crevices  and 
corners  in  the  rocks,  where  most  of  the  gold  is  found.  As  the 
water  is  very  seldom  more  than  a  couple  of  feet  deep,  a  diving- 
bell  would  be  of  little  service.  The  flume,  the  ditch,  and  the 
wing-dam  are  the  chief  tasks  of  the  river-miner.  The  ditch  is 
rarely  used,  because  the  banks  of  the  mining-streams  are 
usually  so  steep,  high,  rocky,  and  crooked,  that  a  flume  is 
cheaper.  The  wing-dam  is  not  often  used,  because  the  river- 
beds are  in  most  places  too  narrow.  The  flume  is  almost  uni- 
versally employed. 

§  241.  Beach  Mining. — Beach  mining  is  the  business  of 
washing  the  sands  of  the  ocean-beach.  Between  Point  Men- 


318  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

docino,  in  California,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Umpqua  River,  in 
Oregon,  the  beach-sand  contains  gold,  and  in  some  places  it  is 
very  rich.  The  beach  is  narrow,  and  lies  at  the  foot  of  a  bluff 
bank  of  auriferous  sand.  In  times  of  storm,  the  waves  wash 
against  this  bank,  undermine  it,  sweep  away  the  pieces  which 
tumble  down,  leaving  the  gold  on  the  beach.  The  gold  is  in 
very  fine  particles,  and  it  moves  with  the  heavier  sand,  which 
alters  its  position  frequently  under  the  influence  of  the  waves 
and  surf.  One  day,  the  beach  will  have  six  feet  depth  of  sand ; 
the  next,  there  will  be  nothing  save  bare  rocks.  The  sand 
differs  greatly  in  richness  at  various  times  :  one  day,  it  will  be 
full  of  golden  specks  ;  a  few  days  later,  at  the  same  place,  it 
will  be  barren.  The  sand  in  the  mean  time  has  been  moved 
by  the  waves,  and  replaced  by  other  sand. 

It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  know  where  the  sand  is  rich 
and  where  it  is  not.  The  companies  employed  in  mining  on 
the  beach  number  about  ten  men  ;  and  there  is  a  foreman,  who 
rides  out  early  every  morning,  following  the  beach  about  two 
miles  to  the  northward  and  two  miles  to  the  southward  of  the 
camp,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  where  the  sand  is  the  best. 
So  changeable  is  the  sand,  that  a  new  examination  is  made 
every  day ;  and  only  three  or  four  men  are  supposed  to  be 
good  judges  of  the  quality  of  sand,  from  its  appearance. 

When  the  foreman  has  selected  a  place,  he  orders  all  the 
men  to  it,  and  they  gcnfcvith  twenty  pack  mules,  which  carry 
the  sand  in  alforjas,  or  rawhide  sacks,  to  the  place  of  wash- 
ing, which  is  up  on  the  bluff,  probably  a  mile  or  more  distant 
from  the  spot  where  the  sand  is  obtained.  It  happens  occa- 
sionally that  the  foreman  rides  long  distances  on  the  beach, 
and  sometimes  he  will  order  the  sand  to  be  obtained  ten  miles 
from  the  washing  place.  The  sand  must,  of  course,  be  very 
rich  to  pay  for  such  transportation,  but  the  beach  sand  at 
times  in  the  sunlight  is  said  to  be  actually  dazzling  yellow 
with  gold.  The  purpose  of  going  upon  the  bluff  to  wash  it  is 
to  get  fresh  water  for  washing ;  for  the  sea  water  is  not  so  good, 


MINING.V  Of  r~     '^    S       319 


nor  can  it  be  obtained  conveniently.  The  richest  dirt  is  that 
the  farthest  down  on  the  beach,  so  still  weather  and  low  tide 
are  the  best  times  for  getting  it.  When  a  rich  place  is  dis- 
covered low  down  on  the  beach,  great  exertions  are  made  to 
get  as  much  of  the  sand  as  possible  before  the  tide  rises. 
When  high  tide  and  storm  come  together,  little  can  be  done. 
The  sand,  having  been  separated  from  all  clay  and  soluble 
matter  by  the  action  of  the  sea,  is  very  easily  washed,  and  all 
collected  in  a  month  can  be  washed  in  two  days  in  a  sluice. 

§  242.  Placer  Prospecting. — "  Prospecting,"  or  the  search 
for  gold  deposits,  does  not  require  much  experience  or  scien- 
tific knowledge.  The  following  are  some  general  rules  for  the 
prospector : 

1.  Gold  probably  exists  in  every  district  where  granite, 
slate,  and  quartz  veins  are  found  together  or  in  near  proximity 
to  one  another. 

2.  If  there  is  any  gold  in  a  district,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
beds  of  the  larger  ravines. 

3.  Profitable  diggings  are  to  be  found  only  in  the  moun- 
tains, or  in  the  plain  immediately  below  them. 

4.  The  gold,  if  any,  is  to  be  found  by  digging  to  the  bed- 
rock in  the  beds  of  gullies  or  streams,  at  the  mouths  of  can- 
ons, or  in  bars  at  the  lower  ends  of  rapids,  at  low  stages  of 
water.     If  there  be  any  gold  in  the  basin  of  a  river,  some 
particles  of  the  metal  will  be  found  in  it&  bars  above  the  level 
of  low  water. 

5.  Gold  is  most  abundant  in  places  where  the  bed  is  nearly 
level,  just   below  long  and  steep  pitches;   and  more  metal 
collects  where  the  bed-rock  is  rough  than  where  it  is  smooth. 

6.  la  a  country  rich  in  gold,  a  pan  of  dirt  taken  from  the 
bed-rock  of  a  large  ravine  will  usually  show  some  specks  of 
the  metal. 

7.  The  smaller  and  smoother  the  particles,  the  farther  they 
have  come. 

The  pan  is  used  for  washing  the  dirt  to  be  prospected. 


320  KESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

§  243.  Quartz  Mining. — Quartz  mining  differs  much  from 
placer  mining.  For  the  former,  more  capital,  more  experi- 
ence, more  complicated  machinery,  and  richer  material,  are  re- 
quired than  for  the  latter.  The  placer  miner  throws  the  dirt 
into  the  water,  which  then  does  the  work ;  whereas  the  pul- 
verizing of  rock  is  a  nice  operation.  Quartz  requires  a  mill 
and  water  power ;  placer  dirt  is  washed  in  a  simple  sluice. 
Dirt  containing  ten  cents  in  the  cubic  yard  may  pay  the 
hydraulic  miner,  but  the  quartz  miner  must  have  a  hundred 
times  as  much  in  a  cubic  yard  of  vein- stone,  or  he  cannot 
work.  The  placer  gold,  when  freed  from  the  baser  material 
surrounding  it,  is  much  of  it  in  coarse  particles,  which  are 
easily  caught  by  their  specific  gravity  ;  the  quartz  gold  must 
be  reduced  to  a  fine  powder  before  it  can  be  set  free,  and  with 
the  fineness  of  the  particles  increases  the  difficulty  of  catching 
them. 

§  244.  Prospecting  for  Quartz. — Auriferous  quartz  lodes  are 
often  found  by  accident.  Not  unfrequently  it  happens  that 
a  rich  streak  of  pay-dirt  in  a  placer  claim  is  followed  up  to  the 
quartz  claim  from  which  it  came.  While  miners  are  out  walk- 
ing or  hunting,  they  occasionally  will  come  upon  lodes  in 
which  the  gold  is  seen  sparkling.  Some  good  leads  have  been 
found  by  men  employed  in  making  roads  and  cutting  ditches. 
The  quartz  might  be  covered  with  soil,  but  the  pick  and 
shovel  revealed  its  position  and  wealth.  In  Tuolumne 
County,  in  1858,  a  hunter  shot  a  grizzly  bear  on  the  side  of  a 
steep  canon,  and  the  animal  tumbling  down,  was  caught  by  a 
projecting  point  of  rock.  The  hunter  followed  his  game,  and 
while  skinning  the  animal,  discovered  that  the  point  of  rock 
was  auriferous  quartz.  *  In  Mariposa  County,  in  1855,  a  miner 
was  attacked  by  a  robber,  and  the  former  saw  a  sparkle  behind 
his  assailant  at  a  spot  where  a  bullet  struck  a  wall  of  rock. 
He  killed  the  robber,  and  found  that  the  rock  was  gold  bearing 
quartz.  In  Nevada  County,  several  years  ago,  a  couple  of  un- 
fortunate miners  who  had  prepared  to  leave  California,  and 


MINING.  321 

were  out  on  a  drunken  frolic,  started  a  large  boulder  down  a 
steep  hill.  On  its  way  down,  it  struck  a  brown  rock  and 
broke  a  portion  of  it  off— exposing  a  vein  of  white  quartz 
which  proved  to  be  auriferous,  induced  the  disappointed  min- 
ers to  remain  some  months  longer  in  the  State,  and  paid  them 
well  for  remaining.  Science  and  experience  do  not  appear  to 
give  much  assistance  in  prospecting  for  quartz  lodes.  Chemists, 
geologists,  mineralogists,  and  old  miners,  have  not  done  better 
than  ignorant  men  and  new-comers.  Most  of  the  best  veins 
have  been  discovered  by  poor  and  ignorant  men.  Not  one 
has  been  found  by  a  man  of  high  education  as  a  miner  or 
geologist.  No  doubt,  geological  knowledge  is  valuable  to  a 
miner,  and  it  should  assist  him  in  prospecting  ;  but  it  has  never 
yet  enabled  anybody  to  find  a  valuable  claim. 

It  is  useless  to  prospect  for  auriferous  quartz  in  a  country 
where  no  placer  gold  has  been  found.  If  the  metal  exists  in 
the  rock,  some  of  it  will  also  be  found  in  the  alluvium,  and  it 
can  be  discovered  there  more  readily  than  in  the  vein.  After 
the  placers  have  been  found,  then  search  should  be  made  for 
the  quartz.  The  following  rules  are  serviceable  : 

1 .  If  a  ravine  is  rich  in  gold  to  a  certain  point  and  barren 
above,  look  for  a  quartz  vein  in  the  hill-sides  just  above  the 
place  where  the  richness  ceases. 

2.  A  line  of  pieces  of  quartz  rock  observed  in  a  hill-side, 
probably  indicates  the  course  of  a  quartz  vein. 

3.  If  a  ravine  crosses  a  quartz  vein,  fragments  of  the  rock 
will  be  found  in  its  bed  below. 

4.  A  large  quartz  vein  will  often  show  its  presence  in  the 
topography  of  the  country,  by  forming  hills  in  those  spots 
where  the  rock  happens  to  be  very  hard. 

5.  Quartz  can  be  found  and  the  veins  traced  with  com- 
paratively little  labor  in  the  steep  banks  of  canons,  where  the 
rock  is  base  or  is  covered  with  but  little  soil. 

6.  If  a  quartz  vein  contains  gold,  some  of  the  metal  may 
be  perceptible  to  the  naked  eye. 

21 


322  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

§  245.  Quartz  Mining  as  a  business. — Many  fine  fortunes 
have  been  lost  in  gold-quartz  mining,  and  it  is  proper  to  give 
warning  to  the  ignorant  against  the  dangers  that  beset 
the  business.  Here  are  a  few  remarks  for  the  consideration 
of  inexperienced  persons  solicited  to  take  an  interest  in  quartz 
mines. 

1.  Gold  quartz  mining  is  one  of  the  most  uncertain  of  all 
occupations. 

2.  No   amount  of  experience,  scientific  knowledge,  and 
prudence,  will  secure  the  investor  against  loss  in  it. 

3.  Many  of  the  men  engaged  in  it  are  very   bold,  and 
their  statements  must  not  be  accepted  without  great  caution, 
even  when  there  is  proof  of  their  sincerity. 

4.  No  one  should  risk  more  in  gold  quartz  than  he  can  af- 
ford to  lose  without  serious  inconvenience. 

5.  The  presence  of  large  lumps  of  gold  in  a  vein,  is  no 
evidence  of  a  profitable  mine.     Most  of  the  best  mines  have 
had  little  rich  rock  ;  and  the  finest  specimens  have  come  from 
mines  that  are  not  now  worked.     It  is  the  large  supply  of  pay- 
ing quartz,  and  not  the  extraordinary  richness  of  small  pieces, 
that  makes  the  great  mine. 

6.  There  is  no  occupation  in  which  it  is  easier  to  waste 
money  by  inexperience,  carelessness,  or  folly. 

7.  No  business  has  greater  need  of  the  presence  and  con- 
stant attention  of  an  economical,  attentive,  and  capable  man- 
ager, directly  interested  in  the  business. 

8.  For  persons  of  small  means,  the  only  safe  way  to  work 
a  quartz  mine   is  to  make  it  pay  as  it  goes  along,  and  to  aban- 
don it  whenever  the  outgo  exceeds  the  income. 

9.  Many  of  the  best  quartz  mines  in  the  State  were  rich  at 
the  surface,  and  have  yielded  more  than  enough  from  the  be- 
ginning to  pay  for  all  the  work  expended  on  them. 

10.  Not  one  in  five  of  the  mines  which  did  not  pay  at  the 
surface,  and  has  been  worked  to  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet, 

.has  ever  paid. 


MINING.  323 

11.  The  richness  of  a  vein  at  one  point  is  no  evidence  of 
its  richness  at  another. 

12.  Not  one  quartz  miner  in  a  thousand  has  made  a  mod- 
erate fortune. 

13.  Nearly  all  the  owners  of  the  rich  quartz  mines  of  Cal- 
ifornia are  capitalists,  who  made  money  in  other  business,  and 
then  could  afford  to  risk  considerable  sums  in  ventures  which 
they  considered  uncertain. 

14.  Do  not  build  your  mill  till  you  have  opened  your  mine, 
and  got  enough  pay-rock  in  sight  to  pay  for  it. 

15.  The  following  remarks  of  Wm.  Ashburner,  mining  en- 
gineer, are  as  worthy  of  attention  as  when  they  were  written 
ten  years  since : 

"  In  1858,  there  were  upwards  of  280  quartz-mills  in  Cali- 
fornia, each  one  of  which  was  supplied  with  quartz  from  one 
or  more  veins.  The  number  of  stamps  in  these  mills  was 
2,610,  and  the  total  cost  of  the  whole  mill  property  of  this 
nature  in  the  State  exceeded  $3,000,000.  In  the  summer  of 
1861,  while  I  was  attached  to  the  Geological  Survey,  I  made 
a  careful  and  thorough  examination  of  all  the  quartz-mills  and 
mines  of  the  State,  and  could  only  find  between  forty  and  fifty 
mills  in  successful  operation,  several  of  which  were  at  that 
time  leading  a  very  precarious  existence." 

16.  A  good  quartz  mine,  well  managed,  is  the  most  profita- 
ble and  satisfactory  kind  of  property  to  be  found  in  California. 

§  246.  Rich  Mines. — Among  the  quartz  mines  which  have 
produced  the  largest  sums,  are  the  following  :  The  Princeton 
mine,  which  has  produced  $4,000,000  ;  the  Pine  Tree  and 
Josephine,  which  together  produced  $350,000  from  the  1st 
May,  1860,  to  the  1st  May,  1863 ;  and  the  Mariposa  mine, 
which  produced  $84,948  in  1864,  are  in  the  Mariposa  grant, 
and  have  all  been  idle  most  of  the  time  since  1865.  The  New 
Britain  has  yielded  $52,000,  the  Sherman  $200,000,  and  the 
Kite's  Cove  now  yields  $15,000  net  per  month. 

In  Tuolumne  County,  the  Soulsby  yielded  for  a  time  $100,- 


324  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

000  annually,  the  Platt  has  paid  $40,000  profit,  the  Grizzly 
has  produced  $125,000,  the  Excelsior  $300,000,  the  Sell  & 
Martin  $150,000,  the  Tennessee  $60,000,  the  Austrian  $100,- 
000,  and  the  Sophia  $45,000. 

The  Morgan  mine,  on  Carson  Hill,  in  Calaveras  County, 
(according  to  the  statement  of  Thomas  Dear,  who  is  reputed 
to  have  better  opportunities  of  knowing  than  any  body  else) 
produced  $2,800,000  from  February,  1850,  to  December,  1851. 
Mr.  Stevenot,  however,  who  claimed  an  interest  in  the  mine, 
though  he  did  not  succeed  in  the  courts,  says  the  sum  was 
$1  ,500,'GOO.  At  any  rate,  immense  masses  of  gold  were  found, 
and  the  town  of  Melones,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  was  the 
largest  mining  camp  in  the  State  for  a  time.  The  South  Car- 
olina has  yielded  $400,000,  the  Reserve  $100,000,  the  Bovee 
$600,000,  Hill's  Mine  $250,000,  and  the  Cherokee  $100,000. 

The  Hayward  mine,  in  Amador  County,  has  been  reported 
to  be  the  most  profitable  mine  in  the  State.  About  24,000 
tons  are  crushed  in  a  year,  and  there  are  120,000  tons  in  sight. 
The  present  supply  of  ore  is  obtained  1,200  feet  below  the 
surface,  and  300  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  Key- 
stone, a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  pays  $80,000  a  year  in  divi- 
dends. The  Oneida,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant  in  the  other 
direction,  has  produced  very  large  sums,  and  has  in  sight  90,- 
000  tons  of  rock,  expected  to  yield  about  $17  per  ton.  The 
total  expense  is  about  $5  per  ton.  The  Seaton  mine  has  yielded 
$100,000. 

In  El  Dorado  County,  the  richest  mines  have  been  the  Pacific, 
which  has  yielded  $500,000,  the  Woodside,  which  yielded 
$12,000  in  specimens,  the  Danes,  and  the  Shepard. 

In  Placer  County,  the  St.  Patrick  is  the  most  notable. 

In  Nevada  County,  the  Eureka  has  yielded  $3,000,000  ;  the 
North  Star  $500,000  profit ;  the  Allison  $2,300,000  ;  Massa- 
chusetts Hill  $5,600,000  ;  New  York  Hill  $500,000  ;  Missouri 
Hill  $200,000 ;  the  Fellows  $1,000,000  ;  Norambagua  $80,000  ; 
Gold  Hill  $4,000,000  ;  Union  Hill  $74,000;  Empire  $1,300,- 


MINING.  325 

000;  Hueston  Hill  $1,000,000;  Osborne  Hill  $1.000,000; 
Lone  Jack  $500,000  ;  Gold  Tunnel  $1,000,000  ;  Nevada  $400,- 
000  ;  Sneath  &  Clay  $300,000  ;  Lecompton  $250,000  ;  Wig- 
ham  $200,000  ;  the  Banner  $200,000  ;  and  the  Idaho  several 
millions,  now  yielding  $4,000  daily. 

In  Sierra  County,  the  Sierra  Buttes  mine  has  paid  more 
regularly  than  any  other  fn  the  State,  having  been  worked 
steadily  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  having  yielded  about 
$2,500,000,  including  more  than  $1,000,000  profit.  The  In- 
dependence,  on  the  same  vein,  yielded  £  100,000  in  1866.  The 
Primrose,  two  miles  distant,  has  yielded  $226,000— idle.  The 
Union,  one  mile  from  Alleghany,  yielded  $75,000  in  a  pocket. 

In  Plumas  County,  the  Eureka  has  yielded  $1,600,000  ;  the 
Mammoth,  $1,000,000;  the  Crescent,  $500,000;  and  the 
Whitney,  $68,000. 

In  Yuba  County,  at  Brown's  Valley,  twelve  miles  from 
Marysville,  and  not  more  than  500  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  are  the  Pennsylvania,  which  yielded  at  one  time  $10,000 
net  per  month ;  the  Jefferson,  which  has  paid  $250,000  of 
dividends  ;  and  the  Dannebroge,  which  has  yielded  $250,000. 

§  247.  Extraction. — The  extraction  of  auriferous  quarts 
after  it  has  been  found,  does  not  differ  in  any  important  ma- 
terial from  the  extraction  of  other  ores  in  narrow  veins.  The 
rules  for  running  tunnels  and  drifts  for  stoping,  draining,  ven- 
tilating, and  timbering,  are  precisely  the  same.  Extraction, 
however,  requires  much  experience  and' judgment  for  proper 
management.  The  dip,  thickness,  and  material  of  the  vein, 
the  horizontal  length  and  the  dip  of  the  pay-chute,  the  char- 
acter of  the  walls,  the  supply  of  water,  and  the  situation  of 
the  mill,  must  be  taken  into  consideration.  Access  must  be 
had  to  the  lower  works  by  a  horizontal  tunnel,  or  vertical 
shaft,  or  an  incline  running  down  on  the  dip  of  the  lode. 
There  are,  however,  very  few  auriferous  quartz  mines  in  which 
the  lower  works  can  be  reached  profitably  by  a  tunnel. 
Ordinarily  an  incline  is  preferred  ;  it  goes  down  in  the  vein- 


326  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

stone,  which  sometimes,  but  rarely,  pays  for  the  work  of  taking 
it  out.  After  the  shaft  or  incline  is  down,  levels  or  drifts  are 
run  off  horizontally  as  far  as  the  pay-rock  extends,  at  intervals 
usually  of  a  hundred  feet,  and  the  levels  are  numbered  from 
the  surface  ;  so  when  we  read  that  they  have  found  good  rock 
in  a  certain  mine  at  the  eighth  level,  we  presume  that  it  is 
eight  hundred  feet  below  the  surface.  The  rock  between  two 
levels  is  broken  down  or  stoped  out.  and  it  falls  to  the  drift  or 
level  below,  where  it  is  loaded  in  a  car  and  hauled  to  the 
shaft,  in  which  it  is  carried  up. 

§  248.  Pulverization. — Nearly  all  the  quartz  of  California 
is  crushed  by  stamps  or  iron  hammers,  ten  inches  in  diameter, 
and  weighing  500  pounds.  The  stamp  is  fastened  to  a  vertical 
iron  stem  about  six  feet  long,  and  near  the  top  is  a  projection 
by  which  a  cam  or  a  revolving  shaft  lifts  the  stamp  a  foot 
high  and  then  lets  it  fall.  Five  stamps  are  placed  side  by  side 
in  a  battery,  and  they  fall  successively,  each  making  about  40 
blows  in  a  minute.  The  quartz  is  shoveled  in  on  the  upper 
side,  and  when  pulverized  sufficiently,  it  is  carried  away 
through  a  wire  screen  on  the  lower  side  by  a  stream  of  water, 
which  pours  into  the  battery  steadily. 

§  249  Arrastra. — The  arrastra  is  the  simplest  instrument 
for  grinding  auriferous  quartz.  It  is  a  circular  bed  of  stone, 
from  eight  to  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  on  which  the  quartz  is 
ground  by  a  large  stone  dragged  round  and  round  by  horse 
or  mule  power.  There  are  two  kinds  of  arrastras,  the  rude 
and  improved.  The  rude  arrastra  is  made  with  a  pavement  of 
unhewn  flat  stones,  which  are  usually  laid  down  in  clay.  The 
pavement  of  the  improved  arrastra  is  made  of  hewn  stone, 
cut  very  accurately  and  laid  down  in  cement.  In  the  center 
of  the  bed  of  the  arrastra  is  an  upright  post  which  turns  on  a 
pivot,  and  running  through  the  post  is  a  horizontal  bar,  pro- 
jecting on  each  side  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  pavement.  On 
each  arm  of  this  bar  is  attached  by  a  chain  a  large  flat  stone 
or  muller,  weighing  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred 


MINING.  327 

pounds.  It  is  so  hung  that  the  forward  end  is  about  an  inch 
above  the  bed,  and  the  hind  end  drags  on  the  bed  and  crushes 
the  quartz. 

§  250.  Art\algamati<m. — The  pulverized  auriferous  quartz,  as 
it  comes  from  the  stamps,  consists  of  fine  particles  of  rock  and 
gold  mixed  together,  and  the  objects  of  the  miner  are  to  sep- 
arate them,  save  the  metal,  and  let  the  other  material  escape. 
Here  again  a  small  sluice,  similar  in  principle  to  that  used  in 
placer  mining,  is  used ;  but  instead  of  riffle-bars,  the  bottom  of 
the  sluice  is  copper,  covered  with  quicksilver,  or  is  a  rough 
blanket,  in  which  the  gold  and  heaviest  sands  are  caught.  In 
many  mills  quicksilver  is  placed  in  the  battery,  two  ounces  of 
quicksilver  for  one  of  gold  ;  and  about  two-thirds  of  the  gold 
is  caught  thus.  Next  the  battery  is  the  apron,  a  copper  plate 
covered  with  quicksilver,  on  which  a  good  share  of  the  gold 
is  caught. 

§  251.  Co?icentration. — Below  the  aprons  different  devices 
for  catching  the  gold  are  used  in  different  mills.  The  blanket 
is  the  most  common.  It  is  a  coarse  blanket,  laid  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  sluice  through  which  the  pulp  from  the  battery  runs, 
and  the  gold,  black  sand,  and  sulphurets  are  caught  in  the 
wool,  while  the  lighter  material  runs  off.  The  blanket  is 
washed  out  in  a  tub  at  intervals  of  half  an  hour  or  an  hour. 

In  some  mines  nearly  half  of  the  gold  is  mixed  with  pyrites, 
and  refuses  to  be  caught  by  quicksilver.  In  such  case  a  sluice 
may  be  used  to  separate  the  sulphurets,  which  may  form  three 
per  cent,  of  the  pulverized  rock.  This  separation  is  called 
concentration,  and  the  material  obtained  is  concentrated  tail- 
ings. The  sulphurets  are  five  times  as  heavy  as  water,  and 
twice  as  heavy  as  quartz,  so  the  separation  is  not  difficult 
when  the  supply  of  water  is  abundant. 

§  252.  Chlorination. — In  roasting  for  chlorination  we  have, 
first,  to  oxydize  the  iron,  and  next,  by  introduction  of  salt,  to 
chloridize  certain  other  substances  which  vary  with  the  locality 
from  which  the  ore  is  obtained.  When  this  is  rightly  done  we 


328  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

have  usually  formed  either  oxydes  or  oxychlorides  of  all  the 
base  metals  in  the  ore  treated,  leaving  gold  as  the  only 
free  metal  to  absorb  the  chlorine  gas.  In  order  to  be  sucess- 
ful  in  roasting  the  ore,  attention  must  be  given  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  furnace.  If  the  arch  over  the  hearth  is  too  high,  the 
ore  will  not  be  oxydized ;  so  also  if  the  flues  are  too  large,  or 
the  damper  is  opened  too  wide,  as  the  excess  of  cold  air  or 
draft  cools  the  ore.  Then  again,  if  the  arch  is  too  low,  or  flues 
too  small,  the  air  will  fail  to  yield  its  oxygen  to  desulphurize  and 
oxydize  the  ore.  Cold  air  must  always  flow  into  the  furnace 
through  the  work-holes,  but  it  must  be  in  proper  quantities — 
and  the  work-holes  must  be  in  proportion  to  the  chimney-flues. 
The  main  principle  of  chlorination  is,  that  the  metallic  gold  is 
dissolved  by  chlorine  gas,  while  metallic  oxydes  are  left  un- 
touched. The  ore  is  first  roasted  in  a  furnace  of  proper  con- 
struction, and  then  enclosed  in  a  covered  vat,  into  which 
chlorine  gas  is  introduced,  until  all  the  gold  is  converted  into 
chloride  of  gold ;  and  then  the  vat  is  opened  and  filled  with 
water,  which  dissolves  the  gold  as  sugar  is  dissolved  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances.  The  solution  is  drawn  off,  and  the  metal- 
lic gold  precipitated  from  it  by  the  introduction  of  the  proto- 
sulphate  of  iron.  The  cost  of  the  entire  process  does  not  ex- 
ceed $20  per  ton ;  and  in  some  locations,  where  wood  is  cheap 
and  freights  moderate,  it  may  be  worked  as  low  as  $1 2  per  ton 
of  sulphurets.  The  roasting  is  the  most  difficult  step  in  the 
entire  process,  but  every  part  must  be  correctly  performed. 

§  253.  Quicksilver. — The  productive  quicksilver  mines  of 
California  are  all  in  the  Coast  Mountains,  between  latitudes 
36s  and  39°.  There  are  three  main  groups  :  those  of  Santa 
Clara  County,  including  the  New  Almaden,  which  produces 
11,000  flasks  annually  ;  those  of  Fresno,  including  the  New 
Idria,  which  yields  about  6,000 ;  and  those  of  Napa,  including 
the  Redington,  producing  7,000.  The  yield  is  irregular 
in  all  the  districts  and  all  the  mines,  the  ore  being  found  in 
masses  almost  disconnected ;  so  that  the  working  of  a  good 
body  of  cinnabar  in  one  year  may  be  followed  by  several 


MIXING.  329 

years  of  searching  for  others  like  it.  The  total  production  of 
the  State  has  never  exceeded  52,000  flasks  in  a  year,  and  at 
present  may  be  estimated  at  little  more  than  half  that  amount. 

The  New  Almaden  is  the  great  mine  of  the  State,  and  has 
produced  in  the  last  twenty-four  years  about  600,000  flasks,  or 
45,000,000  pounds  of  metal.  The  highest  production  was  in 
1864,  when  it  reached  43,000  flasks.  It  is  situated  fifteen 
miles  southward  from  San  Jose.  The  New  Idria  mine  is  on 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Diablo  ridge,  seventy-five  miles  south- 
eastward  from  Hollister ;  the  Redington  mine,  twenty-eight 
miles  east  of  Calistoga ;  the  Phoenix  and  Washington,  in  Pope 
Valley,  ten  miles  east  of  Calistoga ;  the  Oakville,  six  miles 
southward  from  the  town  of  St.  Helena ;  and  the  St.  Johns,  five 
miles  northeastward  from  Vallejo.  The  St.  Johns  and  the 
Great  Western,  eighteen  miles  beyond  Calistoga,  are  mines  that 
promise  to  become  important  in  the  future.  The  total  present 
production  of  the  State  is  about  30,000  flasks.  The  consump- 
tion of  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories  is  19,000,  and  of  the 
remainder  of  the  continent,  11,000,  st>  that  North  America 
has  no  need  either  to  export  or  import  now. 

The  metal  is  extracted  from  the  ore  by  sublimation.  The 
furnaces  and  condensers  used  diifer  greatly  in  the  manner  of 
construction,  and  also  in  the  expense  of  running. 

At  the  Xew  Almaden  and  New  Idria  mines  the  old  style 
of  furnaces  are  used.  They  are  about  fifty  feet  long,  twelve 
feet  high,  and  twelve  feet  wide.  At  one  end  of  each  furnace 
is  the  fire  chamber,  which  may  be  nine  feet  cubic  inside  ; 
next  that  is  the  ore  chamber,  of  about  the  same  size  ;  and  be- 
yond that  is  the  condensing  chamber,  in  which  there  are  a 
number  of  partitions,  alternately  running  up  from  the  bottom 
and  down  from  the  top,  with  a  space  for  the  fumes  to  pass, 
their  course  being  up  and  down,  and  up  and  down  again,  and 
so  on  for  a  distance  of  thirty  feet  to  the  chimney,  which  is 
forty  feet  high.  In  the  bottom  of  the  condensing  chamber  is 
water.  The  wails  between  the  fire  chamber  and  the  ore 


330  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

chamber,  and  between  the  latter  and  the  condensing  chamber, 
are  built  with  open  spaces,  so  that  the  heat,  smoke,  and  fumes 
can  pass  through.  The  ore  is  placed  in  the  ore  chamber  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  leave  many  open  spaces.  The  heat  drives 
off  the  sulphur  and  mercury  of  the  ore  in  fumes,  which  in 
passing  through  the  condensing  chambers  deposit  the  mer- 
cury, and  the  smoke  and  sulphur  escape  through  the  chimney. 
Three  days  are  usually  allowed  for  drawing  off  the  metal 
from  each  charge,  and  then  several  days  are  allowed  for  the 
furnace  to  cool  off  before  the  exhausted  rock  can  be  removed, 
and  a  new  charge  put  in,  so  that  nearly  a  week  is  devoted  to 
a  charge.  The  rock  must  be  made  white  hot  before  the 
quicksilver  passes  off  in  fumes. 

The  furnace  patented  by  Knox  and  Osborn  may  be  consid- 
ered the  favorite,  more  of  that  than  of  any  other  kind  being 
in  use.  It  is  upright  in  form,  about  twenty  feet  high,  receives 
the  ore  at  the  top,  and  the  heat  from  a  hearth  at  the  side. 
It  has  a  capacity  of  twenty-five  tons,  and  eighteen  tons  are 
roasted  daily,  implying  that  the  ore  remains  four  days  in  the 
heat.  At  the  end  of  six  months  the  fire  is  allowed  to  burn 
out,  and  the  furnace  is  examined  to  see  whether  repairs  are 
necessary.  Two  cords  and  a  half  of  wood  are  required  daily. 
The  condensers  are  of  cast  iron,  seven  feet  long,  four  feet 
high,  and  two  feet- wide,  the  inner  end  being  fourteen  inches 
higher  than  the  outer,  to  allow  the  soot  to  come  down  easily  to 
the  door.  Sixteen  of  these  are  required  for  condensing  the 
metal  from  eighteen  tons  of  ore  (averaging  less  than  five  per 
cent,  of  metal)  daily.  They  are  all  connected  into  one  contin- 
uous channel  by  goose-neck  castings,  and  each  with  its  goose- 
neck weighs  2,700  pounds.  Water  trickles  continuously  over 
all  the  condensers  to  keep  them  cool.  By  this  furnace,  and 
perhaps  by  several  others,  ore  yielding  one-half  of  one  per 
cent,  of  metal,  can  be  worked  with  a  profit  at  the  present 
prices. 

§  254.  Silver. — Silver  ores  are  found  at  many  places  in 
California,  but  the  only  productive  silver  mines  are  east  of  the 


MINING.  331 

main  divide  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  There  are  five  silver 
mills  in  Alpine,  four  in  Mono,  and  eight  in  Inyo  County,  but 
most  of  them  are  idle,  and  not  one  of  them  is  producing 
much.  In  the  production  of  silver  by  the  milling  process  the 
ore,  after  it  has  been  pulverized  by  stamps,  is  stirred  as  a  thick 
pulp  in  a  large  iron  pan  with  water,  quicksilver,  and  some 
chemicals  for  six  hours,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  pulp  is 
run  into  a  tank,  mixed  with  much  water,  and  allowed  to  settle, 
when  the  amalgam  and  quicksilver  are  found  at  the  bottom. 

The  cost  of  extraction  usually  ranges  from  $2  to  $6  ; 
crushing  costs  from  $9  to  $12,  amalgamation  from  $1.50  to 
$2.50,  and  other  expenses  may  be  from  $2  to  $10  when  there 
is  a  good  supply  of  ore.  But  allowance  must  be  made  for 
prospecting,  dead  work,  and  other  contingencies  which  beset 
every  silver  mine,  and  the  cost  of  which  is  without  limit. 
Free-milling  ore  will  not,  as  a  general  rule,  pay  a  profit  unless 
it  yields  $22  per  ton,  and  few  companies  can  make  dividends 
at  that  figure. 

The  most  productive  silver  mines  of  California  are  those  at 
Cerro  Gordo,  in  Inyo  County,  where  the  ores  are  of  the  smelt- 
ing class,  containing  considerable  proportions  of  carbonate 
and  sulphuret  of  lead.  These  mines  are  nearly  7,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  In  some  of  the  lodes  the  lead  and  silver  are 
mixed,  containing  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  former  and  $60  of  the 
latter  to  the  ton  ;  in  others,  either  the  quantity  of  one  or  the 
other  is  very  small,  and  the  ores  have  to  be  mixed.  The  pay- 
ore  yields  fifteen  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  argentiferous  lead  or 
base  bullion,  containing  from  $200  to  $400  per  ton  of  silver 
and  gold.  The  ore  is  smelted  at  the  mine  in  furnaces,  each  of 
which  produces  from  three  to  ten  tons  of  bullion  daily.  The 
base  bullion  is  shipped  to  the  refining  works,  San  Francisco, 
where  it  is  melted  at  a  heat  so  low  that  the  silver  crystal- 
lizes in  the  liquid  lead,  and  can  be  dipped  or  strained  out 
by  the  Pattinson  process.  The  expense  of  refining  varies 
from  $30  to  $80  per  ton. 


332  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

§  255.  Sulphur. ~— Sulphur  is  produced  at  the  sulphur  bank, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Clear  Lake,  about  eight  miles  from 
the  town  of  Lower  Lake.  The  mineral  is  found  in  a  propor- 
tion varying  from  ten  to  forty  per  cent,  with  earth.  The 
crude  material  is  shoveled  up  from  the  surface  ;  taken  in  a 
wheel-barrow  to  a  furnace,  where  it  is  heated,  and  the  sulphur 
passes  off  into  an  iron  receiver ;  thence  it  goes  into  an  iron  pot 
where  it  is  purified,  and  is  allowed  to  run  in  a  fluid  form  into 
a  wooden  box,  in  which  it  solidifies.  It  is  then  ready  for  the 
the  market. 

§  256.  Borax. — Borax,  and  minerals  from  which  borax 
can  be  made,  are  abundant  in  certain  lakes  and  dry  lake  beds 
east  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  extending  from  Reno  to  near  the 
Colorado  River.  The  extraction  of  borax  from  these  deposits 
is  a  new  business,  and  has  not  yet  been  placed  on  a  very  econ- 
omical basis.  The  chief  difficulty  at  present  is  expensive 
transportation  ;  but  it  is  beset  by  many  other  drawbacks. 
The  crystals  of  borate  of  lime  found  mixed  with  sulphate  of 
soda,  chloride  of  soda,  other  salts  and  dirt,  in  the  dry-beds  of 
ponds  east  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  are  dissolved  in  hot  water, 
which,  after  it  has  stood  several  hours,  is  drawn  off,  leaving 
the  sand  and  clay  behind  it,  and  then  soda  is  added  to  form  a 
biborate,  which  is  crystallized  after  the  lime  has  been  precipi- 
tated in  an  insoluble  condition.  In  some  places  carbonates  of 
soda  are  found,  and  the  production  of  sal-soda  and  caustic 
soda  will  become  important  in  time.  Some  soda  was  made  in 
1864  and  1865  at  Borax  Lake,  near  Clear  Lake,  but  the  busi- 
ness was  interrupted  by  the  abundant  rains  in  1866  and  '67, 
and  has  not  been  resumed. 

§  257.  Hydraulic  Cement. — The  production  of  hydraulic 
cement  in  California  is  confined  to  one  mill  at  Benicia,  but 
might,  perhaps,  be  extended.  The  peculiar  limestone  con- 
verted into  the  cement  by  burning  and  grinding,  is  found*  in 
seams  not  more  than  five  feet  wide,  in  the  metamorphic  sand- 
stone on  both  sides  of  the  Strait  of  Carquinez,  and  the  work- 


MINING.  333 

men  seldom  dig  down  more  than  ten  feet  for  it.  The  largest 
deposit  of  it  now  known  is  about  half  a  mile  southward  from 
the  railroad  wharf  at  Vallejo,  and  teams  are  constantly  em- 
ployed hauling  the  rock  from  that  point  to  the  mill.  The 
company  pays  fifty  cents  for  the  privilege  of  digging  up  the 
rock  on  land  within  four  or  five  miles  of  its  mill,  and  pays 
from  $3  to  $5  per  ton  for  rock,  (according  to  quality)  deliv- 
ered at  the  mill.  About  1,500  barrels  of  the  cement  are 
shipped  per  month,  and  the  quality  is  reported  to  be  superior 
to  the  best  imported.  Considerable  quantities  of  the  rock  are 
found  at  distances  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  from  Benicia,  but  not 
enough  in  any  one  spot  to  justify  the  erection  of  a  mill. 

§  258.  Coal. — The  total  annual  consumption  of  mineral 
coal  in  California  is  500,000  tons,  of  which  175,000  tons  come 
from  Mt.  Diablo,  75,000  tons  from  the  coast  north  of  our 
State,  5,000  from  Chile,  30,000  from  the  Eastern  States,  30,- 
000  from  England,  115,000  from  Australia,  and  60,000  tons 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  supplies  from  Chile,  Aus- 
tralia, England,  and  the  Atlantic  States,  are  irregular2  depend- 
ing to  a  considerable  extent  on  the  freights.  The  production 
of  the  Mt.  Diablo  mines  is  increasing,  having  been  6,000  tons 
in  1861,  50,000  in  1864,  100,000  in  1867, 150,000  in  1869, 
and  175,000  in  1872.  The  method  of  mining  for  coal  does 
not  differ  materially  from  those  pursued  elsewhere,  except 
that  our  seams  are  smaller,  and  good  qualities  of  the  fuel  are 
not  found  until  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet  is  reached. 


334  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER    X. 

GEOLOGY. 

§  259.  Plutonic  and  Secondary. — The  rocks  of  California 
are  mainly  Plutonic,  upper  Secondary,  Tertiary,  and  Volcanic. 
The  Plutonic,  or  granite,  forms  the  bulk  of  the  Sierra  Nevada 
and  part  of  the  coast  mountains.  The  upper  Secondary  occu- 
pies a  belt  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  vary- 
ing from  five  miles  in  width,  about  latitude  35°,  to  forty 
miles  in  latitude  39°.  Its  lower  edge  is  in  places  within  five 
hundred  feet  of  the  level  of  the  sea ;  its  upper  line  6,000  feet, 
but  the  average  elevations  of  the  two  edges  are  probably 
1,000  and  4,000  feet.  The  rocks  of  this  formation  are 
mainly  slates,  and  in  them  are  found  the  seams  of  auriferous 
quartz  and  the  deposits  of  gold-bearing  gravel  which  first  at- 
tracted a  large  population  to  California.  These  slates  are 
found,  also,  in  the  northern  coast  mountains ;  and  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada  a  belt  of  limestone  is  associated  with  them. 
In  the  coast  mountains,  south  of  39°,  and  also  in  spots  on  the 
Sierra,  cretaceous  rock,  the  highest  of  the  secondary  forma- 
tion, appears,  and  it  is  accompanied  by  coal  and  quicksilver. 

§  260.  Tertiary. — The  Tertiary  formation,  stratified  and 
metamorphic  sandstones,  occupy  the  valleys  in  the  middle 
and  southern  portions  of  the  State,  the  greater  part  of  the 
coast  mountains,  and  the  lower  foothills  at  the  back  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  The  strata  on  the  coast  mountains  have  been 


GEOLOGY.  335 

much  disturbed,  and  we  frequently  find  them  standing  nearly 
vertically.  In  the  vicinity  of  San  Francisco,  the  cuts  through 
the  hills  show  great  and  numerous  flexures.  The  aqueous 
sandstone  of  California  is  generally  unfit  for  either  building  or 
road  making.  The  stratification  is  thin ;  it  abounds  in  frac- 
tures, does  not  wear  well  when  exposed  to  the  weather,  and 
under  wheels  is  soon  converted  into  mud.  Some  of  it  that 
has  been  highly  metamorphosed  by  heat,  is  excellent  for  build- 
ing. 

§  261.  Volcanic. — Volcanic  rocks  occupy  a  large  space 
north  of  latitude  38°.  In  remote  ages,  California  was  the.scene 
of  great  volcanic  activity  in  the  northern  half.  No  lavas  or 
volcanic  peaks  west  of  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  have 
been  found  south  of  the  latitude  of  the  Golden  Gate  on  37° 
48',  while  on  the  other  side  of  that  line  they,  are  abundant. 
Mount  Diablo  has  the  conical  shape  and  solitary  position  of  a 
volcano,  but  its  rocks  are  cretaceous.  The  numerous  high 
peaks  of  the  Californian  Alps — the  principal  one  reaching  the 
greatest  elevation  in  the  United  States — much  as  some  of  them 
resemble  volcanic  cones  at  a  distance,  fail  to  show  any  signs 
of  volcanic  action  so  far  as  they  have  been  closely  examined. 

Many  of  the  fava  beds  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  are  prominent 
features  of  the  landscape.  They  filled  up  the  channels  and 
canons  of  the  streams  of  the  Pliocene  or  post-Pliocene  age, 
and  being  harder  than  the  slates,  the  latter  were  washed  away, 
leaving  those  places  which  had  been  hollows  standing  like 
steep  mountains,  rising  500  or  1,000  feet  above  the  adjacent 
country.  The  Tuolumne  Table  Mountain,  30  miles  long  and 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  the  Oroville  Table  Mountain,  nearly  as 
long,  are  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  such  geological 
changes ;  but  many  others  might  be  found.  Ridges  covered 
with  beds  of  lava  are  common. 

There  are  immense  beds  of  lava  about  Mount  Shasta,  and 
appearances  indicate  that  at  least  10,000  feet  of  the  elevation 
of  that  peak  are  due  to  the  matter  ejected  from  its  crater. 


336  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Mount  Lassen  also  vomited  wonderful  quantities  of  molten 
rock;  and  an  area  of  nearly,  if  not  quite,  10,000  square  miles, 
including  those  two  peaks,  is  covered  with  lava  of  various 
kinds,  and  in  many  places  they  have  net  been  sufficiently 
decomposed  on  the  surface  to  sustain  a  good  growth  of  vege- 
tation. 

§  262.  Extinct  Volcanoes. — The  most  southerly  volcanic 
peak  yet  discovered  on  the  Coast  is  Mount  St.  Helena,  in 
latitude  38°  42',  4,343  feet  high.  Its  volcanic  origin  is 
indubitable,  although  its  long  and  flat  form  does  not  suggest 
the  volcanic  idea  to  the  spectator  looking  from  a  distance. 
The  basaltic  columns  forming  a  projecting  point  at  its  north- 
ern end,  and  another,  but  less  prominent  one,  near  its  southern 
end,  and  the  basalt  covering  the  ridge  to  the  southward,  must 
have  come  from  this  crater,  which  was  once  half  a  mile  in 
diameter,  but  has  been  worn  down  by  the  eroding  action  of 
water,  so  that  its  original  outline  is  scarcely  traceable.  The 
ridge  between  Sonoma  and  Petaluma  is  covered  with  trap ; 
that  between  Napa  and  Sonoma  has  an  immense  quantity  of 
tufa  and  a  little  trap,  and  that  east  of  Green  Valley  in  Solano 
County  has  much  tufa;  and  presumptions  indicate  that  all 
these  may  have  poured  out  from  St.  Helena.  The  country, 
however,  for  fifty  miles  north-northwestward  from  St.  Helena, 
is  full  of  the  evidences  of  great  volcanic  activity.  Clear 
Lake,  which  is  twenty  miles  long,  seems  to  have  been  the 
crater  of  a  volcano,  and  the  Californian  Geysers  are  solfataric 
in  their  character,  and  undoubtedly  derive  their  heat  from  the 
deep  internal  fires. 

§  263.  Gold-bearing  Rocks. — The  gold-bearing  formation 
of  California  is  a  j  urassic  slate,  in  which  are  found  veins  of 
auriferous  quartz,  and  these  occasionally  extend  into  adjacent 
granite  and  limestone.  The  erosion  or  disintegration  of  the 
rock  has  set  free  much  gold,  which  is  now  found  in  the  placers 
or  gravel  beds. 

The  quartz  lodes  vary  in  thickness  from  a  line  to  forty  feet, 


GEOLOGY.  337 

and  they  run  in  every  direction  ;  but  usually  their  course  coin- 
cides with  that  of  the  mountain  chain  in  which  they  are 
found.  The  most  remarkable  vein  of  the  State,  and  perhaps 
of  the  world — in  extent,  at  least — is  the  Mother  Lode  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  It  has  been  traced  for  sixty  miles,  from  the 
Cosumnes  River  to  Mariposa,  in  a  southeast  direction,  with  a 
dip  of  about  45°  to  the  northeast.  The  width  varies  greatly, 
but  the  average  may  be  thirty  feet.  The  vein  stone  is  a  white 
quartz,  divided  up  into  a  multitude  of  seams,  with  gray  and 
brown  discolorations,  and  with  small  proportions  of  iron,  cop- 
per, lead,  antimony,  and  silver  ores,  besides  gold,  in  the  state 
not  of  ore,  but  of  metal.  The  Mother  Lode  is  not  only  the 
main  support  of  a  number  of  mining  camps,  but  it  also  affects 
the  face  of  nature ;  for  such  prominent  elevations  as  Pefion 
Blanco,  Quartz  Mountain,  Carson  Hill,  a-nd  Whisky  Hill,  seem 
to  be  due  entirely  to  the  superior  hardness  of  the  large  body 
of  quartz  in  this  vein,  which  has  defied  the  eroding  powers, 
while  the  softer  slates  adjacent  have  been  washed  away.  The 
hills  stand  in  those  places  where  the  lode  is  widest  and  most 
compact,  and  the  rivers  have  sought  out  the  intervening  points 
where  the  quartz  was  divided  up  into  a  multitude  of  little 
seams,  as  at  the  crossings  of  the  Mokelumne,  Stanislaus,  Tuol- 
umne,  and  Merced  Rivers,  and  Maxwell's  Creek. 

§  264.  Placers. — The  placers  are  alluvium  that  contains 
gold.  As  the  auriferous  rocks  were  worn  away,  the  lighter 
and  smaller  particles  were  swept  down  into  the  level  valleys, 
while  the  larger  pieces  of  stone  and  the  materials  of  greater 
specific  gravity  were  left  near  the  point  where  they  were  set 
free.  If  a  stream  cut  through  a  vein  of  auriferous  quartz, 
containing  thick  seams  of  gold,  the  largest  lumps  of  the  metal 
would  be  near  the  point  of  intersection,  the  smaller  lumps 
would  be  carried  down  farther,  and  the  fine  scales  might  be 
deposited  many  miles  below.  The  smaller  the  pieces  of  gold, 
as  a  general  rule,  the  smoother  they  are,  the  smaller  and 
smoother  the  sand  or  gravel  in  which  they  are  found,  and  the 
22 


338  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

nearer  the  bottom  land  of  the  valleys.  Gold  is  rarely  found 
in  loam  or  pure  clay,  but  usually  in  the  strata  of  gravel  or 
boulders,  next  the  bed-rock,  and  in  the  deepest  depressions,  as 
in  the  beds  of  streams. 

§  265.  Dead  Rivers. — But  those  places  which  are  now, 
were  not  in  the  Pliocene  era,  the  beds  of  rivers.  California 
has  numerous  dead  rivers  or  channels,  once  used  by  large 
streams  of  water,  but  now  filled  up  with  gravel ;  and  on  ac- 
count of  their  auriferous  wealth  they  have  been  discovered, 
traced  out,  and  examined  with  an  industry  and  care  not  be- 
stowed upon  similar  extinct  streams  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  dead  rivers  so  wonderful 
in  character  could  be  found  elsewhere.  Some  of  these  channels 
are  covered  with  mountains  of  basalt,  among  which  the  Tuol- 
umne  Table  Mountain,  thirty  miles  long  and  half  a  mile 
wide,  is  the  most  celebrated.  In  the  Pliocene  age,  a  river  ran 
nearly  in  the  course  of  the  present  Stanislaus,  but  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  a  lava  flow,  which  left  no  place  for  the  water,  rose 
to  the  level  of  the  banks,  and  after  they  were  washed  away 
by  the  water,  rose  up  like  a  mountain,  with  a  serpentine 
course,  steep  sides,  and  a  bare  and  level  top.  In  sinking  down 
through  the  middle  of  Table  Mountain,  the  miner  passes 
through  150  feet  of  basalt,  100  of  volcanic  sand,  50  of  clay 
and  sand,  30  of  gravel,  (the  lowest  10  feet  being  rich  in  gold) 
and  then  strikes  the  bed-rock  of  slate.  When  that  channel 
was  filled  up,  and  became  a  dead  river,  the  waters  had  to  find 
a  new  course  in  the  live  Stanislaus. 

§  266.  Dead  Blue  fiiver.—The  greatest  dead  river  of  Cal- 
ifornia in  length,  breadth,  depth  and  wealth,  is  "  The  Dead 
Blue  River,"  as  I  call  it.  Some  gentlemen,  connected  witli  the 
State  Geological  Survey,  have  denied  the  correctness  of  my 
assertion,  that  there  is  such  a  stream  ;  and  they  claim  that  the 
gravel  deposits  which  I  include  in  it,  were  not  made  in  a  river- 
bed :  but  I  adhere  to  my  opinion.  A  line  of  placer  mining 
towns  extends  from  Forest  Hill,  on  the  southern  line  of  Placer 


GEOLOGY.  339 

County,  to  the  northern  line  of  Sierra,  a  distance  of  65  miles 
in  a  north-northwest  direction,  intersected  by  the  live  streams, 
some  of  which  ran  in  canons  2,000  feet  deep.  These  towns 
are  situated  at  the  points  where  the  auriferous  deposits  of  the 
Dead  Blue  River  are  accessible.  The  gravel  is  uniform  in 
its  character,  and  rich  wherever  the  lower  strata  have  been 
reached.  The  name  was  suggested  by  the  general  bluish 
color  of  the  sand  mixed  with  the  pebbles  and  boulders,  most 
of  which  are  of  quartz.  The  term  "  gravel "  is  applied  to 
the  material  found  in  these  dead  rivers,  though  in  it  we  often 
find  boulders  a  foot,  or  three  feet,  or  six  feet  through.  The 
lower  the  strata,  as  a  general  rule,  the  larger,  rougher,  or  less 
regular  the  pieces  of  stone. 

The  abundance  of  quartz  in  the  Dead  River  is  astonishing 
and  inexplicable.  In  the  large  live  streams  running  through  the 
quartz  districts  we  find  perhaps  one  per  cent,  or  one-fifth  of 
one  per  cent,  of  the  gravel  and  boulders  composed  of  quartz, 
and  we  know  that  in  the  rock  eroded  by  the  live  streams 
running  down  the  Sierra  Nevada,  quartz  does  not  form  one- 
twentieth  of  one  per  cent.  But  in  the  Dead  Blue  River,  we 
find  that  fifty  or  seventy  per  cent  of  the  gravel  is  quartz. 
And  its  absolute  quantity  is  not  less  wonderful  than  the  pro- 
portion. The  Dead  Blue  River  contains  a  hundred  fold  more 
quartz  in  its  pebbles  and  boulders  than  we  could  get  from  all 
the  known  quartz  veins  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  if  we  should 
dig  them  out  through  their  entire  length  to  the  depth  of  a 
mile. 

This  Pliocene  river  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  on  an 
average,  was  parallel  with  the  Sacramento,  but  fifty  miles 
farther  east,  and  carried  ten  or  twenty  times  as  much  water. 
The  current  ran  southwards,  as  that  of  the  Sacramento  does. 
We  know  this  fact  from  the  present  elevations,  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  flat  boulders  lie  pointing  down  stream,  from 
the  direction  in  which  the  branches — which,  like  the  main 
stream,  are  filled  with  gravel — enter  it,  from  water- worn 


340  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

pieces  of  driftwood,  and  from  drift  trees  with  the  tops  point- 
ing down  stream.  We  find  such  marks  in  live  streams,  and 
they  cannot  be  attributed  in  the  Dead  Blue,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  to  any  influence  save  that  of  a  strong  current  flowing 
southward. 

It  was  a  stream  of  wonderful  force,  far  exceeding  in  power 
any  of  its  size  now  known.  The  miners  find  strata  of  bould- 
ers, many  of  which  weigh  a  ton,  deposited  over  a  width  of  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  and  a  length  of  sixty  miles ;  above  that  is 
another  stratum  of  boulders,  in  which  half  a  ton  is  a  com- 
mon weight,  and  so  on,  until  ten  feet  above  the  bed-rock  we 
find  boulders  a  foot  through.  We  do  not  know,  nor  are  we 
justified  in  supposing,  that  the  Columbia  or  the  Mississippi 
could  distribute  such  boulders  with  such  regularity.  The 
entire  depth  of  the  gravel  is  from  200  to  400  feet  deep,  aver- 
aging 300. 

The  bed  of  the  Dead  Blue,  at  Forest  Hill,  is  2,700  feet,  and 
at  Little  Grizzly,  the  most  northern  point  to  which  it  has  been 
distinctly  traced,  4,700  feet  high— a  descent  of  2,000  feet  in 
65  miles,  or  37  feet  in  a  mile.  A  fall  of  five  feet  in  a  mile 
makes  a  swift  river  ;  with  one  foot  in  a  mile  a  canal  eats  away 
its  banks.  The  country  in  which  the  Dead  -Blue  runs  has 
been  raised  by  subterranean  forces,  or  contractions  of  the  earth's 
crust,  and  the  upper  end  may  have  been  elevated  more  than 
the  lower;  though  the  Sierra  Nevada  down  to  36°  has  been 
raised  more  than  that  to  the  northward. 

North  of  Sierra  County,  the  Dead  Blue  River  is  covered 
with  lava,  or  otherwise  hidden,  while  south  of  Placer,  it  has 
been  washed  away  or  covered  with  later  alluvium. 

The  dead  rivers  are  much  richer  in  gold  than  the  live  ones. 
They  were  larger  ;  they  eroded  greater  masses  of  rock,  and  had 
access  to  larger  bodies  of  quartz,  probably  auriferous.  The 
streams  of  the  present  day  have  cut  down  through  those 
of  the  Pliocene  era,  and  are  invariably  much  richer  below 
the  intersection  than  above. 


GEOLOGY.  341 

In  the  Dead  Blue  River  most  of  the  gravel,  about  100  feet 
above  the  bed-rock,  is  in  pieces  as  large  as  a  goose  egg, 
whereas  in  the  Dead  Brandy  River,  as  I  call  it,  running  through 
Laporte,  Brandy  City,  Camptonville,  and  North  San  Juan,  the 
gravel  is  generally  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg. 

§  267.  Fineness  of  Gold. — Gold  is  found  in  many  parts  of 
the  State,  but  the  principal  mines  are  on  the  western  slope  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada.  Miners  look  for  it  wherever  they  find 
granite,  slate,  and  quartz  together.  It  is  mixed  mechanically, 
not  chemically,  with  the  rock  and  base  metals  that  accompany 
it ;  but  is  not  pure,  for  it  is  alloyed  naturally  with  silver,  and 
sometimes  with  small  proportions  of  copper,  lead,  and  iron. 
Usually  about  12  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  gold  dust  as  sold 
by  the  miners  is  silver,  base  metal,  or  adherent  dirt ;  leaving 
88  per  cent,  as  the  pure  gold.  The  variations  are  great,  how- 
ever, and  persons  who  buy  gold  dust  as  a  business,  study  the 
ratio  of  impurity  in  the  metal  produced  by  the  different  mines. 
This  ratio  is  expressed  in  thousandths.  Thus,  we  say  that 
perfectly  fine  gold  is  1,000  fine ;  American  coin  of  standard 
fineness  is  900  fine,  containing  in  1,000  parts  100  of  copper 
to  harden  it ;  the  gold  of  Downieville  ranges  from  895  to  925  ; 
that  of  North  San  Juan  from  960  to  965 ;  that  of  Grass 
Valley  from  800  to  840  ;  that  of  Volcano,  870  ;  Murphy's, 
885  ;  Mariposa,  700  to  820  ;  and  Kern  River,  630.  There  are 
often  great  variations  in  value  between  the  gold  found  in  two 
claims  separated  by  a  distance  of  not  more  than  half  a  mile. 

Placer  gold  is  classified  according  to  the  size  and  form  of 
the  placer  in  which  it  is  found.  Some  pieces  are  small,  oth- 
ers large,  smooth,  or  rough,  in  flat  scales,  round  lumps,  and 
shaped  like  wires,  cucumber  seed,  beans,  pumpkin  seeds,  or 
moccasins.  I  have  washed  out  gold,  nearly  every  piece  of 
which  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  cucumber  seed  in  form 
and  size.  These  peculiarities,  however,  are  much  less  important 
now  than  they  were  formerly,  when  the  placer  mines  were  in 
the  bloom  of  their  production.  Large  nuggets  of  gold  are 


342  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

seldom  found  in  Calfornia  of  late  years,  but  from  1849  to 
1853  it  was  a  common  event  to  find  pieces  of  five  or  ten 
pounds.  The  largest  nugget  on  record  was  found  at  Ballarat, 
Australia,  in  1855,  and  weighed  224  pounds  Troy;  and  in  1854, 
a  piece  of  gold  containing  some  quartz,  and  weighing  195 
pounds  Troy,  was  found  in  Calaveras  County,  California. 

§  268.  Silver. — Extensive  deposits  of  silver  ore  occur  east 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  in  the  basins  of  Owen  Lake  and  the 
Mojave  and  Colorado  Rivers ;  but  the  only  silver  mines  of  note 
in  the  State  are  those  of  argentiferous  galena  at  Cerro  Gordo. 

§  269.  Quicksilver. — Quicksilver  is  one  of  the  leading  met- 
als of  California  in  industrial  value,  its  total  yield  surpassing 
that  of  silver  obtained  from  the  argentiferous  lead  added  to 
that  separated  from  gold.  Mercury  occurs  in  its  metallic  form 
in  some  porous  rocks  near  St.  Helena,  from  which  it  can  be 
shaken  out ;  but  the  market  is  supplied  by  mines  of  sulphuret 
or  cinnabar,  the  richest  deposits  of  which  are  at  New  Alma- 
den,  New  Idria,  Knoxville,  Pope  Valley,  Vallejo,  and  various 
places  in  Sonoma  County.  Cinnabar  is  found  at  many  points 
in  the  cretaceous  rocks  of  the  Coast  Range,  from  Santa  Bar- 
bara to  Shasta. 

§  270. — Platina. — Platina,  iridium,  and  osmium,  are  three 
white  metals  resembling  steel,  often  found  in  the  placer  mines 
of  California.  They  usually  occur  together,  and  are  found 
more  abundantly  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Klamath  Valley  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  State.  In  many  districts  they  are  en- 
tirely lacking.  Platina  is  found  in  lumps  by  itself;  iridium 
and  osmium  are  found  united,  and  are  then  called  irid-osmium. 
These  metals  are  found  in  small  particles,  usually  fine  scales  ; 
the  largest  piece  was  of  irid-osmium,  found  on  the  Lower 
Klamath,  and  weighed  an  ounce  and  a  quarter.  They  are  not 
found  separate  from  the  gold,  nor  are  they  ever  the  main 
object  of  search ;  they  are  obtained  in  small  quantities  only, 
and  are  rarely  bought  and  sold  in  the  State  ;  they  have  no 
fixed  market  price.  When  mixed  with  gold  dust,  they  in- 


GEOLOGY.  343 

jure  its  value,  and  prevent  its  reception  at  the  mint  on  deposit. 

§  271.  Other  Metals. — Copper  ores  are  abundant  in  the 
Colorado  desert,  but  are  of  little  value  there,  on  account  of 
the  high  cost  of  reduction  and  transportation.  Large  deposits 
of  copper  pyrites  have  been  found  in  Calaveras,  Fresno,  El 
Dorado,  Amador,  and  Plumas  Counties. 

Iron,  in  rich  beds  of  hematite,  magnetic,  and  other  valuable 
ores,  exists  in  Calaveras,  El  Dorado,  Sierra,  and  Plumas  Coun- 
ties. 

A  vein  of  brown  oxide  of  tin,  containing  20  per  cent,  of 
metal,  and  ten  feet  wide,  has  been  opened  at  Temascal,  San 
Bernardino  County  ;  but  the  extraction  of  it  is  not  considered 
profitable,  so  nothing  is  done  with  it,  or  with  other  similar 
veins  in  the  same  county. 

§  272.  Limestone. — A  remarkable  belt  of  limestone  runs 
along  the  side  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  from  the  Bower  Cave  in 
Mariposa  County,  to  Oroville,  a  distance  of  160  miles.  Though 
only  a  few  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  it  happens  to  include  a 
number  of  the  richest  placer  mining  camps  in  the  State. 
Among -these  are  Columbia,  Springfield,  Kincaid's  Flat, 
Murphy's,  Volcano,  and  Indian  Diggings.  The  limestone  is  a 
coarse  marble  in  general  character,  and  where  crossed  by 
streams,  has  been  gullied  out  by  numerous  channels,  leaving 
pinnacles  of  rock  with  open  spaces  between  them.  These 
spaces  were  filled  with  auriferous  gravel,  and  were  singularly 
rich  in  gold.  At  a  few  points  the  marble  is  hard  and  suscep- 
tible of  a  good  polish.  Metamorphic  limestone  exists  at  many 
points  in  the  coast  mountains,  the  principal  quarries  being  in 
Santa  Cruz  and  Contra  Costa  Counties. 

§  273.  Coal. — The  old  red  sandstone  and  the  "  true  car- 
boniferous "  rocks,  as  they  are  called,  are  wanting  in  Califor- 
nia, and  it  was  long  supposed  that  no  valuable  coal  would  ever 
be  discovered  in  the  State ;  but  some  veins  of  a  very  good 
quality  have  been  found  near  Mount  Diablo.  The  mineral 
contains  far  more  solid  combustible  matter,  and  less  incombus- 


344  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

tible  material,  than  most  tertiary  coal.  In  the  strict  geologi- 
cal meaning  of  the  terms,  it  is  not  "  coal,"  but  "  lignite,"  be- 
longing to  a  later  date  than  the  true  coal,  and  lying  in  a  dif- 
ferent formation.  The  rocks  are  sandstone  and  shale,  of  the 
cretaceous  or  upper  secondary  age,  and  were  formed  by  alter- 
nating depositions  in  salt  and  fresh  water.  The  coal  veins  are 
situated  on  the  northeastern  slope  of  Mount  Diablo,  are  from 
two  to  nine  feet  in  thickness,  dip  to  the  north  at  an  average  of 
30°,  and  open  on  the  southern  declivities  of  the  hills.  A 
chemical  analysis  of  some  of  the  best  specimens  showed  50 
per  cent,  of  carbon,  46  per  cent,  of  volatile  bituminous  sub- 
stances, and  4  per  cent,  of  ashes.  The  coal  is  bituminous  in 
character,  breaks  readily,  shows  a  bright  surface  where  frac- 
tured, and  burns  with  a  brilliant  flame.  The  quantity  is 
large,  and  it  can  be  profitably  supplied  in  San  Francisco  at 
eight  dollars  per  ton,  whereas  imported  coal  has  hitherto  cost 
twice  as  much. 

§  274.  Asphaltum. — Bituminous  springs  are  numerous  near 
the  coast,  from  the  northern  line  of  Monterey  County  to  San 
Diego.  They  throw  up  a  dark,  pitch-like  fluid,  of  a  strong 
odor,  which,  on  exposure  to  the  air,  grows  thick,  and  finally 
solid.  It  collects  in  great  masses  about  the  springs,  and  in 
some  places  covers  several  acres  of  ground.  After  being  ex- 
posed to  the  air  for  some  time,  it  is  called  "  asphaltum,"  which 
is  very  hard  in  cold  weather,  but  grows  soft  at  about  75°,  and 
becomes  liquid  at  85°.  Some  springs  of  it  rise  in  the  sea  near 
San  Diego,  and  others  near  Santa  Barbara  ;  and  masses  of  the 
asphaltum  are  seen  floating  many  miles  from  shore.  The  air 
at  sea  is  even  scented  with  it,  and  on  several  occasions  frights 
on  shipboard  have  been  caused  by  its  odor,  which  was  sup- 
posed to  come  from  some  hidden  fire. 

The  principal  places  in  which  these  springs  of  asphaltum  are 
found,  are  the  following  : 

1.  In  the  Santa  Cruz  Mountains,  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  Santa  Clara  County.  A  tract  of  twenty-five  acres  is  here 
covered  by  the  hardened  asphaltum. 


GEOLOGY.  345 

2.  In  San  Luis  Obispo  Valley.     The  asphaltum  covers  thirty 
acres. 

3.  The  Napoma  ranch,  in  San  Luis  Obispo  County.     The 
springs  are  small,  and  yield  but  little. 

4.  On  the  ranch  of  La  Purissima,  in  Santa  Barbara  County. 

5.  A  place   six  miles  west  of  the  town  of  Santa  Barbara. 
The  deposit  of  asphaltum  covers  three  hundred  acres,  from 
two  to  eight  feet  thick. 

6.  Rincon,  of  San  Buenaventura,  Santa  Barbara  County. 

7.  A  place  near  the  San  Buenaventura  River,  twelve  miles 
from  its  mouth,  in  Santa  Barbara  County. 

8.  A  place  near  the  Santa  Clara  River,  eighteen  miles  from 
its  mouth,  in  Santa  Barbara  County. 

9.  A  place  in  the  Sierra  Santa  Susanna,  in  Los  Angeles 
County. 

10.  In  Los  Angeles  Valley,  Los  Angeles  County. 

11.  The  San  Pedro  Hills,  in  Los  Angeles  County.  . 

12.  San  Juan  Capistrano,  Los  Angeles  County. 

One  of  the  deposits  in  Santa  Barbara  is  so  near  the  sea, 
that  the  mineral  might  be  thrown  with  a  shovel  into  a 
chute  which  would  carry  it  into  the  hold  of  a  vessel  at  anchor. 

The  asphaltum  generally  comes  up  through  sandstone.  The 
springs  of  Santa  Barbara  seem  to  have  ceased  to  flow,  while 
those  in  Los  Angeles  County  are  still  active.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  amount  lying  on  the  surface  at  the  various  deposits 
is  not  less  than  five  thousand  tons. 

§  275.  Miscellaneous  Minerals. — Sulphur  occurs  at  the  suL 
phur  bank  near  Clear  Lake,  at  the  Geysers,  near  San  Buena- 
ventura, in  San  Diego  County,  thirty  miles  northward  from 
the  bay,  and  in  Colusa  County.  At  the  sulphur  bank  the 
mineral  is  mixed  with  earth,  sand,  and  soda.  Sulphur  springs 
abound  in  the  Coast  Range;  and  in  the  volcanic  districts 
about  Clear  Lake,  the  Geysers,  Mt.  Shasta,  and  Mt.  Lassen, 
there  are  numerous  vents  for  sulphurous  fumes,  which  deposit 
their  sulphur  on  the  sides  of  the  holes  through  which  they  rise 
to  the  surface. 


346  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Gypsum  is  found  at  numerous  points  in  the  coast  moun- 
tains, but  not  in  large  bodies ;  and  the  name  of  the  Alabaster 
Cave,  in  El  Dorado  County,  indicates  the  material  of  its  sides. 

Clay,  valuable  for  stoneware  and  fine  brick,  is  obtained  at 
Michigan  Bar,  and  near  Antioch. 

There  are  alum  springs  at  the  Geysers  and  near  Owen 
Lake,  and  banks  of  clay  containing  a  strong  taste  of  alum 
have  been  noted  in  Santa  Clara  and  Calaveras  Counties. 

Diamonds  have  been  washed  out  from  the  placers  at  many 
points  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas ;  but  they  have 
been  too  small  and  too  rare  to  justify  hunting  for  them  as  an 
exclusive  or  as  amain  occupation.  The  best  place  for  them 
so  far  has  been  Cherokee,  Butte  County,  where  a  deep  stratum 
in  a  dead  river,  covered  by  the  Oroville  Table  Mountain,  con- 
tains them. 

Opals  are  abundant  in  a  stratum  near  Mokelumne  Hill,  but 
they  are  of  a  dull  lustre  and  worthless  quality. 

Hydraulic  lime,  fit  for  cement,  occurs  in  seams  in  the  meta- 
morphic  sandstone,  north  of  Mt.  Diablo,  and  there  is  enough 
of  it  about  Benicia  to  keep  a  mill  going. 

A  bed  of  plumbago,  or  graphite,  near  Columbia,  was 
worked  in  1867,  but  has  been  abandoned  as  unprofitable. 

Chromic  iron  is  exported  from  Del  ISTorte  and  Sonoma  Coun- 
ties, and  an  ore  of  manganese  has  been  dug  in  considerable 
quantities  in  Red  Rock. 

Salt  springs  are  found  in  Shasta  County. 

Deposits  of  borate  of  lime,  carbonate  of  soda,  and  borate 
of  soda,  cover  the  dry  beds  of  numerous  ponds  east  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  ;  and  some  of  them  promise  to  have  a  high  com- 
mercial value  for  the  production  of  borax. 

A  small  lake,  without  an  outlet,  east  of  Clear  Lake,  is  a 
weak  solution  of  borax. 

Steatite,  or  soapstone,  valuable  as  a  substitute  for  fire-brick, 
exists  in  extensive  layers  in  El  Dorado  County,  which  has 
also  beds  of  silicious  earth,  or  fine  grit,  valuable  for  polish- 
ing. 


GEOLOGY.  347 

§  276.  Water. — The  waters  of  California  are  generally 
soft  and  pure,  but  mineral,  warm,  and  hot  springs  are  numer- 
ous. Large  hot  springs  are  found  in  large  clusters  in  Surprise 
Valley,  at  the  eastern  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  at  the 
Geysers,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Clear  Lake.  They  are  also 
found  scattered  through  the  coast  mountains,  nearly  every 
valley  having  several.  Most  of  the  hot  springs  are  also  min- 
eral, sulphur  being  the  predominant  flavor.  The  tempera- 
tures of  certain  springs  are  thus  given :  Harbin's  Springs 
108°  and  118°  respectively,  Skaggs'  Springs  120°  and  140°, 
White  Sulphur  Springs  97°,  79°,  75°,  76°,  64°,  68°,  89°,  86°, 
and  69°,  San  Bernardino  Warm  Springs  108°,  128°,  130°,  166°, 
169°,  and  172°,  Aguas  Calientes,  (San  Diego  County)  58°, 
74°,  130°,  136°,  and  140°,  Warner's  Ranch  Warm  Spring  135°. 

Borax  Lake,  in  the  very  dry  season  of  1863,  contained  281 
grains  of  anhydrous  biborate  of  soda  to  the  gallon,  besides  as 
much  carbonate  of  soda,  and  three  times  as  much  chloride  of 
sodium. 

Clear  Lake  contains  11.69  grains  of  solid  matter  in  a  gallon 
of  water,  including  3.19  of  carbonate  of  lime,  3.35  carbon- 
ate of  magnesia,  0.91  carbonate  of  iron,  0.32  chloride  of 
potassium,  0.42  chloride  of  sodium,  0.42  sulphate  of  lime, 
0.57  silica,  traces  of  boracic  and  phosphoric  acid,  and  246  of 
organic  matter.  The  following  figures  of  solid  grains  in  a 
gallon  give  the  basis  for  a  comparison  of  some  of  the  waters 
of  Pilarcitos  (San  Francisco)  and  Clear  Lake  with  those  of 
Lake  Michigan  at  Chicago,  and  Croton  River  at  New  York. 

PILARCITOS.      CLEAR  IAKE.      CHICAGO.      NEW  YORK. 

Organic  Matter 0.78  2.46  1.06  0.66 

Inorganic  Matter. .         7.42  9.23  5.62  3.90 

Total  Solids 8.20  11.69  6-68  4-56 

§  277.  Artesian  Wells. — There  are  a  great  number  of  arte- 
sian wells  in  California.  In  Santa  Clara  County,  within  a  dis- 
trict six  miles  wide  by  fifteen  long,  there  are  three  hundred — 


348  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

more  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  other  district  of  equal  size  in 
the  world.  Their  water  is  nearly  all  used  to  irrigate  land; 
some  for  manufacturing  purposes.  They  supply  about  two 
million  gallons  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  wells  are  from  fifty 
to  four  hundred  feet  deep ;  the  bore  varies  from  six  to  nine 
inches.  Only  a  small  portion  of  Santa  Clara  Valley  yields 
artesian  water  ;  the  artesian  district  lies  north  of  a  line  com- 
mencing at  Mountain  View ;  thence  running  nine  miles  with 
the  road  through  the  town  of  Santa  Clara  to  San  Jose  ;  and 
thence  southeast  to  the  mountains.  South  of  this  line  no  arte- 
sian water  is  found. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  water  comes  from  certain  subterra- 
nean streams.  One  well  has  abundant  water  at  one  hundred 
feet ;  another,  not  more  than  one  hundred  yard^  distant,  has 
no  water  short  of  three  hundred  feet.  The  wells  throw  up 
living  fish  and  shell-fish,  which  are  of  different  species  in  dif- 
ferent wells.  Some  wells  throw  up  soft-shell  clams,  good  to 
eat,  and  of  a  kind  not  found  in  the  superterrene  waters  of  the 
State,  before  the  opening  of  these  artesian  supplies.  One  well 
throws  up  a  snail,  with  a  long  spiral  shell ;  another  has  snails 
with  flat  shells ;  and  others  have  blind  fish,  evidently  of  a  spe- 
cies that  has  lived  long  in  subterrene  waters,  and  lost  its  eyes 
because  it  had  no  use  for  them.  Like  the  fish  of  the  Mammoth 
Cave,  in  Kentucky,  these  artesian  fish  have  the  eye-socket  and 
a  blind  eye  in  it.  The  wells  that  produce  the  fish  and  shell- 
fish are  mostly  shallow,  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  deep.  If  put  into  water  fresh  from  wells  two  hundred 
and  fifty  or  three  hundred  feet  deep,  they  soon  die,  as  do  su- 
perterrene fish ;  either,  it  is  supposed,  because  the  water  is 
too  warm,  or  because  it  has  not  enough  air  in  it.  The  deeper 
the  well,  the  warmer  the  water. 

Many  of  the  wells  have  gone  dry — "  been  drained  by  other 
wells,"  as  people  say  ;  but  yet  how  can  one  well  "  drain  "  an- 
other, the  mouths  of  both  being  on  a  level  with  each  other  ? 
The  wells  whose  mouths  are  at  a  lower  level  may  take  water 


GEOLOGY.  349 

from  those  farther  up  the  valley  ;  but  the  theory  that  the  water 
deserts  one  well,  to  flow  out  of  another  of  equal  or  higher 
elevation,  is  not  sound.  There  is  very  little  difference  of  ele- 
vation, perhaps  ten  feet,  between  San  Jose  and  Alviso ;  and 
the  wells  near  the  latter  place  throw  their  water  about  five 
feet  higher  above  the  surface  than  do  those  of  the  former. 
One  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  wells  may  be  the  filling  up  of 
the  pipes.  From  many  of  them  great  quantities  of  sand, 
gravel,  and  stones  half  a  foot  in  diameter,  have  been  thrown 
up ;  and  if  a  large  stone  should  happen  to  lodge  crosswise  in 
the  pipe,  the  other  smaller  stones  and  gravel  might  soon  stop  it 
up  entirely,  or  break  the  force  of  the  current  so  that  the  water 
could  not  rise  to  the  top.  In  many  cases  the  pipe  has  not 
been  driven  down  to  the  foundation  ;  and  the  water,  whirling 
round  at  the  bottom  of  the  pipe,  has  torn  away  the  earth  and 
made  an  excavation,  thus  preparing  the  way  for  a  caving  in 
of  the  ground,  and  filling  up  of  the  well. 

Artesian  wells  have  also  been  sunk  in  San  Francisco,  Oak- 
land, Petaluma,  Stockton,  Fresno  County,  San  Felipe,  in 
Montery  County,  the  Colonia  rancho  in  Ventura  County,  the 
Los  Angeles  plain,  San  Bernardino,  Kern,  and  Tulare  Counties. 
At  San  Felipe,  a  gaspipe  with  a  steel  point  was  driven  down 
with  a  mallet,  until  it  reached  a  stratum  of  artesian  water,  which 
now  flows  up  in  a  constant  stream.  Some  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco artesian  wells  raise  their  water  nearly  to  the  surface,  and 
it  must  be  pumped  up  for  use.  At  San  Diego  an  immense 
supply  of  water  has  been  reached  by  an  artesian  auger,  but 
does  not  come  quite  to  the  surface.  San  Bernardino  County 
has  100  artesian  wells. 

§  278.  Palaeontology. — It  is  a  general  rule,  that  the  animals 
of  former  geological  eras,  in  any  given  district,  appear  to  have 
been  the  gigantic  ancestors  of  those  of  the  present  time.  Thus, 
the  kangaroo  and  emu  of  Australia,  found  in  no  other  part  of 
the  world,  were  preceded  by  gigantic  kangaroos  and  emus, 
whose  fossil  remains  are  found  in  New  Holland  only.  So,  too, 


350  EESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

South  America,  in  antediluvian  times,  had  gigantic  sloths  and 
tapirs,  akin  to  the  animals  now  found  within  her  limits.  Each 
continent  has  a  fauna  of  its  own,  to  which  its  antediluvian  ani- 
mals were  nearly  akin.  Every  continent  has  several  zoological 
districts ;  and  the  ancient  and  modern  fauna  of  these  districts 
are  sometimes  as  clearly  related  to  each  other,  and  as  distinctly 
separate  from  those  of  other  parts  of  the  continent,  as  are  the 
fauna  of  different  continents  from  each  other.  But  the  ante- 
diluvian animals  of  California  possessed  no  peculiar  relation- 
ship to  the  animals  now  indigenous  to  the  State  :  the  former 
fauna  was  totally  distinct  from  that  of  the  present  age ;  the 
fossil  bones  found  are  not  numerous,  and  no  large  and  valuable 
skeletons  have  been  brought  to  light,  but  many  fragments. 
None  of  the  large  saurians — those  wonderful  lizards,  as  large 
as  whales  of  an  early  geological  era — have  yet  been  found  here ; 
but  our  hills  and  mountains  contain  the  bones  of  the  mastodon, 
elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  horse,  camel,  whale,  and 
a  quadruped  resembling  a  tapir.  Oyster-shells  fifteen  inches 
long  are  found  near  Corral  Hollow,  and  Oyster  Peak  near  Mt. 
Diablo  is  named  after  its  fossils.  Ammonites  abound  in 
Shasta  County,  some  of  them  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter. 
The  climate  of  California  must  have  been  tropical  in  the  era 
of  this  extinct  fauna ;  and  then  our  valleys  were  great  swamps ; 
and  our  mountains  were  covered  with  a  luxuriance  of  vegeta- 
tion that  now  belongs  to  the  equatorial  regions. 

§  279.  Post-Pliocene  Man. — Many  evidences  that  man  ex- 
isted as  early  as  the  post-Pliocene  era,  have  been  found  in 
California ;  and  Amos  Bowman  claims  that  he  was  here  in 
Pliocene  times.  Near  the  town  of  Altaville,  in  Calaveras 
County,  part  of  the  skull  of  a  man  was  found  in  a  post-Pliocene 
formation,  under  four  successive  strata  of  lava,  at  a  depth 
of  131  feet  from  the  surface,  in  a  miner's  shaft.  The  first 
stratum  was  of  black  lava,  forty  feet  deep  ;  then  gravel,  three 
feet ;  light  lava,  thirty  feet ;  gravel,  five  feet ;  light  lava,  fifteen 
feet;  gravel,  twenty-five  feet ;  dark-brown  lava,  nine  feet ;  and 


GEOLOGY.  351 

gravel  in  which  the  skull  was  found,  nine  feet.  Some  attempts 
have  been  made  to  discredit  this  discovery ;  but  those  who 
have  made  the  most  careful  investigation  of  the  facts,  and 
whose  opinions  are  entitled  to  the  most  weight,  accept  it. 

Amos  Bowman,  of  the  State  Geological  Survey,  thus  defines 
certain  eras  in  the  geological  history  of  California  : 

1st.  The  Pliocene,  or  ancient  eroding  period,  during  which 
these  deep  ''  dead  "  river  channels  were  cut  into  the  "  bed- 
rock." 

2d.  These  Pliocene  channels  filling  up  with  gravel — or  the 
choking  or  damming  period. 

3d.  The  active  volcanic  period  of  the  Sierra,  when  the 
gravels  were  capped  with  lava  and  volcanic  ashes. 

4th.  The  cold,  or  glacial  period,  when  the  mountain  slopes 
were  covered  with  living,  moving  glaciers. 

5th.  The  modern  erosive,  or  recent  period,  during  which 
the  present  river  channels  were  formed,  crossing  the  old  chan- 
nels at  various  angles. 

Dr.  James  Blake,  of  San  Francisco,  reported  to  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  in  the  beginning  of  1873,  the  discovery  of 
some' artificial  stone  ornaments,  in  a  Pliocene  formation,  near 
San  Francisco,  indicating  the  existence  of  men  here  in  the 
Pliocene  era. 

Stone  mortars,  pestles,  and  arrow-heads,  have  been  found, 
according  to  report,  in  Pliocene  gravel,  at  Murphy's  Camp, 
Shaw's  Flat,  Columbia,  Springfield,  Tuolumne  Table  Mountain , 
Kincaid  Flat,  French  Bar  and  Cottonwood,  in  Siskiyou 
County,  Spanish  Flat  and  Soapweed,  in  El  Dorado  County. 

In  May,  1859,  an  Indian  arrow-head  was  found,  eighty  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  at  Buckeye  Hill,  Nevada 
County.  About  the  same  time,  another  arrow-head  was 
found  three  feet  deep  in  undisturbed  alluvium,  near  Freeman's 
Crossing,  in  the  same  county. 

In  April,  1859,  the  skeleton  of  a  man  was  found  sixteen 
feet  deep  at  Tehachepe,  in  Los  Angeles  County. 


352  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

In  October,  1855,  two  stone  mortars,  such  as  were  used  by 
the  Indians  for  grinding  acorns  and  grass-seeds,  were  found 
near  Diamond  Springs,  El  Dorado  County,  at  a  depth  of  one 
hundred  feet  below  the  surface. 

In  October,  1854,  the  skeletons  of  two  men  were  found  at 
Rattlesnake  Bar,  fourteen  feet  below  the  surface,  and  under 
ancient  strata,  which  had  apparently  not  been  disturbed  from 
the  time  of  their  deposition. 

Unfortunately,  these  discoveries  were  nearly  all  made  by 
men  ignorant  of  geology,  and  the  evidence  in  many  cases  is 
not  so  satisfactory  as  it  might  be. 


BOTANY.  353 


CHAPTER  XI. 
BOTANY. 

§  280.  Fauna  and  Flora. — California  has  a  botany  and 
zoology  of  her  own.  Her  indigenous  plants  and  animals  are 
peculiar  to  her  soil.  Her  plants,  her  quadrupeds,  her  birds, 
and  her  fishes,  are  different  from  those  of  other  countries.  The 
Californian  vulture  is,  next  to  the  condor  of  South  America,, 
the  largest  bird  that  flies ;  and  he  might  easily  migrate  to  other 
parts  of  the  continent,  but  he  makes  his  home  only  in  this 
State,  and  is  certainly  never  seen  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  grizzly  bear  might  travel  almost  as  well,  but  he  is  found 
only  in  California  and  Oregon.  The  Californian  deer  is  differ- 
ent from  that  of  Virginia  in  horns,  teeth,  feet,  color,  and  size. 
The  bird  known  as  the  roadrunner  or  paisano  might  fly  to  all 
parts  of  the  continent,  but  is  found  only  west  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada.  There  is  a  blue-jay  here,  but  it  differs  from  the  bird 
known  to  the  Xew  Englanders  as  the  blue-jay.  The  robin  of 
New  England  differs  from  the  robin  of  Old  England,  and  the 
Californian  robin  differs  from  both.  The  sturgeon  of  the  San 
Francisco  market  are  not  the  same  with  those  eaten  in  New 
York ;  and  one  species  found  in  California  is  not  found  in  a 
State  so  near  as  Oregon.  Our  trees  are  like,  and  yet  are  un- 
like, those  of  the  Atlantic  States  and  Europe.  We  have  oak 
and  pine,  spruce,  sycamore,  and  horse-chestnut  trees,  and  yet 
they  differ  in  many  important  particulars  from  the  trees  known 
23 


354  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

by  those  names  elsewhere.  California,  with  a  little  of  the 
countrv  adjacent,  is  a  distinct  botanical  district,  and  is  more 
nearly  related  in  vegetation  to  Spain  than  to  the  Mississippi 
valley.  The  species  of  trees  and  plants  are  comparatively  few 
in  number,  and  our  forests  and  fields  lack  the  variety  observed 
in  rnoister  temperate  climes.  Our  valleys  and  low  hills  abound 
with  wild  flowers,  but  nearly  all  bloom  within  a  brief  period 
instead  of  continuing  to  beautify  the  landscape  till  the  end  of 
summer.  The  forests  are  found  only  in  the  districts  which 
have  more  than  the  average  amount  of  rain,  such  as  the  re- 
gion near  the  ocean,  north  of  36°,  and  the  mountains.  The 
bareness  of  the  hills  is  one  of  the  striking  features  of  the 
Californian  landscape. 

Most  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquiu  Valleys,  the  Col- 
orado Desert,  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Coast  Mountains,  and 
the  Coast  Range  south  of  latitude  35°,  are  treeless ;  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  and  the  western  slopes  of  the  Coast  Range  north  of 
35°,  have  fine  forests ;  and  in  the  foot  hills  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  and  in  the  coast  valleys,  there  are  beautiful  open 
groves  of  oak-trees.  The  timber  of  the  Sierra  is  mainly 
spruce,  pine,  and  fir  ;  that  of  the  coast  north  of  37°,  redwood  ; 
and  spruce  and  pine  south  of  that  latitude. 

The  botany  of  California  is  remarkable  for  containing  a 
number  of  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  coniferous  trees  in 
the  world,  growing  to  a  height  of  three  hundred  feet,  and  a 
thickness  of  eight  and  ten  feet  in  the  trunk,  and  some  of  them 
still  larger.  Among  these  gigantic  glories  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  are  the  mammoth  tree,  the  redwood,  the  sugar-pine, 
the  red  fir,  the  yellow  fir,  and  the  arbor-vitae.  Other  large 
conifers  contribute  to  the  magnificence  of  our  forests.  We 
have  the  laurel,  the  madrofta,  the  evergreen-oak,  and  the  nut- 
pine  evergreen  trees,  with  a  growth  resembling  that  of  decid- 
uous trees.  Our  deciduous  trees  are  few,  and  of  little  value 
.to  the  mechanic. 

J  281.    Big  Tree.—ThQ  Big  Tree  of  California,  although 


BOTANY.  355 

not  taller  than  some  of  the  trees  of  Australia,  is  the  largest 
and  most  wonderful  production  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  It 
reaches  a  height  of  300  feet,  and  a  diameter  of  35  feet,  and 
some  specimens  which  have  fallen  down,  were  probably  still 
larger.  From  all  the  larger  trees  the  tops  have  been  broken 
off  by  the  snows,  so  that  their  normal  height  must  be  not 
less  than  350  feet.  It  belongs  to  the  Linnean  genus  Ou- 
pressus,  which  was  afterwards  divided,  and  the  new  genus 
Taxodium,  in  which  the  redwood  belonged,  was  created ;  but  in 
1850,  Endlicher,  a  German  botanist,  made  another  division, 
and  gave  to  the  redwood  a  genus  called  the  Sequoia.  In  this 
the  Big  Tree  properly  belongs.  The  two  trees  bear  a  remark- 
able resemblance  to  each  other  in  the  color,  the  texture  of  the 
wood  and  bark,  in  the  color,  form,  development,  and  distribu- 
tion of  the  foliage,  and  even  in  size,  for  some  of  the  redwoojds 
grow  to  be  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  and  275  feet  high.  The 
specific  difference  of  the  Sequoia  of  the  Sierra  from  that  of  the 
Coast  Mountains,  was  discovered  in  1853  by  Lindley,  a  British 
botanist,  who  undertook  to  gratify  his  national  vanity  by 
creating  a  new  genus,  and  naming  the  tree  the  Wettingtonia 
gigantea.  The  differences,  however,  were  not  generic  in  their 
character,  and  botanists  generally  repudiate  his  new  genus, 
and  call  the  tree  the  Sequoia  gigantea.  It  is  indigenous  only 
on  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  between  latitudes 
36°  30',  and  38°  30',  at  elevations  between  3,000  and  5,000 
feet  above  the  sea  ;  north  of  37°  20',  it  is  found  only  in  small 
and  widely  separated  groves ;  south  of  that  line  it  exists  in 
belts  of  forest  five  or  ten  miles  long.  The  seeds  have  been 
sent  to  many  remote  countries,  and  young  giant  sequoias  are 
found  as  ornaments  in  many  gardens  of  Europe,  as  well  as  in 
the  valleys  of  California. 

§  282.  Redwood. — The  redwood  (Sequoia  sempervirens)  is 
the  second  in  size  and  the  first  in  commercial  value  of  all  the 
trees  in  California,  though  not  much  superior  to  the  sugar-pine 
in  either  respect.  It  is  found  in  dense  forests,  in  which  many 


356  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

of  the  trees  are  five  feet  in  diameter,  200  feet  high,  and  80 
feet  to  the  first  limbs.  The  wood  is  dark  red  in  color,  close 
in  texture,  soft,  light,  straight-grained,  free-splitting,  and  dur- 
able. It  is  unsurpassable  for  railroad  ties,  good  for  the  inside 
finish  of  houses,  and  tolerable  for  such  furniture  as  does  not 
need  to  be  very  strong.  The  redwood  trees  have  been  cut 
down  from  large  areas,  but  the  roots  throw  up  shoots  which 
soon  grow  again  into  trees  ;  and  if  carefully  managed,  there 
would  be  no  decrease  in  the  area  covered  by  this  valuable 
growth  ;  but  under  neglect,  other  conifers  are  encroaching  on 
it.  In  some  places  the  roots  of  the  redwood  have  been  dug 
up,  as  on  the  hills  back  of  Oakland ;  and  as  the  foliage  of  the 
Sequoias  not  only  shades  the  ground,  but  also  condenses  the 
moisture  of  the  fogs,  the  land  thus  deprived  of  its  protection 
has  lost  the  moisture  and  the  numerous  springs  found  on  it 
thirty  years  ago.  A  redwood  in  Santa  Cruz  County,  known 
as  Fremont's  tree,  is  275  feet  high,  and  19  feet  in  diameter,  6 
feet  above  the  ground  ;  and  many  trees  still  larger  are  found 
between  the  Klamath  and  Russian  Rivers.  Near  the  road 
between  Eureka  and  Arcata,  in  Humboldt  County,  there  is  a 
tree  that  measures  61  feet  in  circumference  of  trunk. 

§  283.  Pines. — The  sugar-pine  (Pinus  lambertiana)  is  the 
most  magnificent  tree  of  all  the  pine  kind,  and  indeed  it  has 
no  superior  in  the  vegetable  creation,  save  the  mammoth  and 
the  redwood,  the  confessed  monarchs  of  the  plant  kingdom. 
It  is  closely  related  to  the  white  pine  (Pinus  strobus)  of  the 
Eastern  States ;  "  though,"  as  Dr.  Newberry  says,  "  like  all 
the  conifers  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  it  exhibits  a  symmetry  and 
perfection  of  figure,  a  healthfulness  and  vigor  of  growth,  not 
attained  by-  the  trees  of  any  other  part  of  the  world."  The 
mature  tree  sometimes  reaches  a  height  of  three  hundred 
feet,  and  a  diameter  of  twenty,  but  it  rarely  exceeds  two  hund- 
red and  ten.  The  young  trees  of  the  sugar-pine  give  early 
promise  of  the  majesty  to  which  they  subsequently  attain. 
They  are  unmistakably  young  giants;  even  when  having  a 


BOTANY.  357 

trunk  a  foot  in  diameter,  their  remote  and  regularly-whorled 
branches,  like  the  stem  covered  with  a  smooth,  grayish-green 
bark,  showing  that,  although  so  large,  the  plant  is  still  "  in 
the  milk,"  and  has  only  begun  its  life  of  many  centuries.  The 
sugar-pine  conspicuously  exhibits  one  of  the  most  general  and 
striking  characteristics  of  the  conifers — the  great  develop- 
ment of  the  trunk  at  the  expense  of  the  branches.  Nearly 
the  whole  growth  is  thrown  into  the  trunk,  which  generally 
stands  without  a  flaw  or  flexure,  a  perpendicular  cone,  all  its 
transverse  sections  accurately  circular,  sparsely  set  with 
branches,  which,  in  their  insignificance,  seem  like  the  festoons 
of  ivy  wreathing  about  the  columns  of  some  ancient  ruin. 
The  leaves  are  three  inches  long,  dark  bluish-green  in  color 
and  they  grow  in  groups  of  five.  The  foliage  is  not  dense. 
The  cones  are  large,  sometimes  eighteen  inches  long  by  four 
thick.  The  wood  is  similar  to  that  of  the  white  pine — white, 
soft,  homogeneous,  straight-grained,  clear,  and  free-splitting. 
It  furnishes  the  best  lumber  in  the  State  for  the  "  inside  work  " 
of  houses,  and  is  the  chief  building  material  used  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  where  it  grows.  The  tree  derives  its  name  from  a 
sweet  resin  which  exudes  from  the  duramen  or  hard  wood  of 
the  tree.  This  resin  is  sugar-like  in  appearance,  granulation, 
and  taste,  and  could  not  be  distinguished  from  the  manna  of 
the  drug-stores,  except  by  a  slight  terebinthine  flavor.  The 
pine  sugar  is  cathartic.  It  is  found  in  small  quantities  only, 
though  it  is  said  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  it  were  col- 
lected by  a  man  who  devoted  himself  for  a  few  weeks  to  the 
business  of  gathering  it. 

The  Western  yellow  pine  (Pimis  ponder osa)  is  a  noble  tree, 
sometimes  reaching  a  diameter  of  seven  feet,  and  is  next  in 
size  among  the  pines  of  California  to  the  sugar-pine.  Its 
leaves  grow  in  threes  at  the  end  of  the  branches,  giving  the 
foliage  a  peculiarly  tufted  appearance.  The  color  of  the 
leaves  is  a  dark  yellowish-green.  The  bark  is  of  a  light  yel- 
lowish-brown or  cork  color,  and  is  divided  into  large,  smooth 


358  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

plates  from  four  to  eight  inches  wide,  and  from  twelve  to 
twenty  inches  long,  whereby  the  tree  may  be  recognized  at  a 
distance.  It  is  found  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast  Range, 
and  is  valuable  for  lumber,  as  well  as  for  resin  and  turpentine, 
extracted  from  the  pitch  which  exudes  when  the  tree  is 
gashed. 

The  nut-pine  (Pinus  sabiniana)  is  remarkable  as  a  conifer 
for  its  spreading  top,  and  for  its  large  cones  full  of  edible 
seeds.  It  branches  out  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  a  ma- 
ple ;  rarely  more  than  sixty  feet  high,  though  often  with  a 
trunk  four  feet  through — a  thickness  of  trunk  that  with  most 
other  conifers  would  give  more  than  double  the  height.  About 
half-way  from  the  ground  to  the  top,  the  trunk  divides  into  a 
number  of  branches,  which  grow  upward.  The  nut-pine  is 
found  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  in  the 
coast  mountains,  near  the  head  of  the  Sacramento  Valley. 
The  seeds  are  larger  than  the  common  white  bean,  and  are 
very  palatable,  with  a  slight  terebiuthine  taste.  The  leaves 
are  from  four  to  ten  inches  long,  and  grow  in  threes.  The 
foliage  of  the  tree,  when  seen  from  a  distance,  resembles  that 
of  the  willow,  both  in  color  and  distribution.  In  places  where 
the  nut-pine  is  found,  the  woodpeckers  select  them  as  store- 
houses for  their  winter  food,  cutting  holes  in  their  bark,  and 
putting  an  acorn  in  each.  The  Indians  formerly  relied  upon 
the  nuts  for  a  considerable  portion  of  their  food.  They 
climbed  the  tree  by  catching  hold  of  the  rough,  strong  bark 
with  their  hands,  then  putting  their  foot  against  the  tree,  with- 
out touching  it  with  their  body  or  knees,  they  walked  up  till 
they  reached  the  limbs. 

A  liquid  called  erasine,  similar  to  turpentine  in  its  qualities, 
is  distilled  from  the  pitch  of  the  nut-pine. 

The  Monterey  pine  (Pinus  insignis)  is  extensively  cultivated 
as  an  ornamental  tree,  being  hardy,  quick  in  growth,  and 
dense  and  handsome  in  form  and  foliage ;  but  it  has  no  value 
for  timber. 


BOTANY.  359 

Coulter's  pine  (Pinus  coulterii)  grows  in  the  Santa  Lucia 
Mountains.  It  reaches  a  height  of  one  hundred  feet,  and  has 
a  trunk  three  feet  through.  Its  branches  are  large  and  spread- 
ing, the  leaves  a  foot  long,  and  pale  sea-green  in  color ;  the 
cones  seventeen  inches  long,  seven  inches  through,  and  like  a 
sugar-loaf  in  shape. 

The  twisted  pine  (Pinus  contorta)  is  found  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  State.  The  leaves  are  yellowish  green  in  color, 
about  two  inches  long,  and  they  grow  in  pairs.  The  tree 
does  not  exceed  sixty  feet  in  height. 

§  284.  Firs. — The  red  fir,  or  Douglas  spruce,  (Abies  doug- 
lasii)  is  a  tree  of  very  large  size,  growing  to  be  three  hundred 
feet  high,  and  ten  feet  thick  in  the  trunk.  It  is,  as  Dr.  New- 
berry  says,  "  one  of  the  grandest  of  the  group  of  giants  which 
combine  to  form  the  forests  of  the  West."  The  wood  is  strong, 
but  course  and  uneven  in  grain ;  the  layers  of  each  year's 
growth  being  soft  on  one  side,  and  very  hard  on  the  other. 
The  timber  is  much  used  for  rough  work  on  houses,  and  for 
ship-building.  The  tree  grows  in  dense  forests  on  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains,  from  35°  to  49°,  and  near 
the  coast  north  of  39°. 

The  yellow  fir  (Abies  pattonii)  bears  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  red  fir,  and  the  two  trees  are  usually  found  in  company 
with  each  other. 

The  black  fir  (Abies  menziesii)  is  smaller,  and  of  little 
value. 

The  Abies  bracheata  (Santa  Lucia  fir)  grows  in  the  Santa 
Lucia  Mountains.  The  height  is  about  one  hundred  feet,  the 
shape  a  perfect  cone,  the  lowest  branches  resting  on  the 
ground.  The  tree  produces  a  resin  used  by  the  Catholic 
priests  for  incense. 

The  Western  balsam-fir,  (Picea  grandis)  or  white  fir,  at- 
tains a  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  a  diameter 
of  seven  feet  in  the  trunk.  The  bark  on  the  trunks  of  the 
young  trees  contains  numerous  cysts  full  of  the  resinous  fluid 
called  the  balsam  of  fir. 


360  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

§  285.  Cedar  and  Cypress. — The  Western  juniper,  or 
cedar,  (Juniperus  occidentalis)  grows  thirty  feet  high,  and 
bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  juniper  (Juniperus  mrgini- 
anus)  of  the  Eastern  States,  The  wood  of  a  juniper-tree 
found  near  the  quicksilver  mines  of  New  Idria,  is  so  hard  and 
fine  in  texture,  that  it  would  perhaps  be  valuable  to  en- 
gravers. 

The  arbor-vitae,  also  called  cedar,  {Thuja  gigantea)  is  a 
most  symmetrical  and  graceful  conifer,  growing  to  be  nearly 
three  hundred  feet  high. 

The  Californian  white  cedar  (Libocedrus  decurrens)  grows 
one  hundred  feet  high,  and  seven  feet  thick  in  the  trunk.  It 
is  found  from  Mount  Shasta  to  the  Tejon  Pass.  The  trunk  is 
usually  angular.  Many  of  the  trees  are  aifected  with  a  dry- 
rot,  which  destroys  their  value  as  timber. 

The  fragrant  cedar  ( Cupressus  fragrans)  is  found  along  the 
northern  coast  of  the  State.  It  is  a  large  tree,  and  produces 
a  white,  clear  lumber,  valuable  for  furniture  and  the  inside 
work  of  houses.  The  wood  has  a  strong,  lasting,  and  not  un- 
pleasant odor,  half  way  between  turpentine  and  ottar  of  roses. 

Lawson's  cedar  (Cupressus  lawsoniana)  is  a  tree  of  little 
value  in  the  forest,  but  as  an  ornament  it  is  highly  prized. 
The  foliage  is  dense  and  graceful  in  shape,  and  brighter  in 
color  than  that  of  most  conifers. 

The  Monterey  cypress  ( Cupressus  macrocarpa)  is  indigen- 
ous only  on  Cedar  Point,  at  Monterey,  and  there  are  not 
more  than  one  hundred  trees  there;  but  great  numbers 
of  them  have  been  planted  for  ornament  in  all  the  larger 
towns  of  the  State.  It  is  hardy,  and  a  quick  grower,  has  a 
dense,  graceful  foliage,  bears  clipping  well,  and  makes  a  fine 
appearance  in  all  stages  of  its  growth.  The  largest  tree  of 
the  kind  is  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  sixty  feet  high.  The 
woocl  is  solid  and  durable.  One  tree  at  Monterey  has  as- 
sumed a  remarkable  weeping  appearance ;  but  I  believe  no 
others  of  that  character  have  been  produced  from  it,  Another 


BOTANY.  361 

species,  the  Gove  Cypress,  (Cujyressus  goveniana)  growing 
near  Monterey,  is  a  handsome,  ornamental  tree,  and  does  not 
exceed  ten  feet  in  height. 

The  Western  yew  is  an  upright  tree  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  feet  high,  with  thin  and  light  foliage,  the  leaves  being 
about  an  inch  long.  Its  growth  is  straighter,  its  branches 
fewer,  and  its  foliage  thinner,  more  feathery,  and  lighter  in 
color,  than  the  European  yew.  It  grows  on  the  Sierra  Nevada 
from  34°  northward  to  British  Columbia. 

Many  other  conifers  are  found  in  California,  but  do  not  re- 
quire special  description  here.  Among  them  are  several  hem- 
locks, (Tsugas)  and  various  species  of  pine,  and  fir. 

§  286.  Nutmeg. — The  California  nutmeg  (Torreya  cali- 
fornicd)  is  a  graceful  and  beautiful  evergreen,  found  in  the 
Coast  Mountains  near  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco.  It  grows 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  high,  and  resembles  the  West- 
ern yew  in  foliage  and  general  form.  The  fruit  is  like  a  nut- 
meg in  size  and  shape,  but  it  has  a  disagreeable  terebinthine 
taste,  and  is  never  used  as  a  condiment. 

§  287.  Laurel — The  California  laurel,  or  bay,  (Oreo- 
daphne  californica)  is  one  of  the  most  common  and  beautiful 
trees  of  the  coast  valleys.  It  is  ah  evergreen,  which  grows  to 
a  height  of  fifty  feet,  with  a  trunk  sometimes  thirty  inches  in 
diameter.  The  leaves  are  dark  green,  lustrous,  four  inches 
long,  one  inch  wide,  sharp  at  both  ends,  with  smooth  edges. 
The  foliage  is  dense.  The  wood  is  grayish  in  color,  very  hard, 
durable,  and  difficult  to  split,  susceptible  of  -high  polish,  and 
in  many  trees  marked  with  a  beautiful  grain,  so  that  it  has 
been  used  for  veneering  and  solid  ornamental  work.  It  is 
sometimes,  however,  occupied  while  growing  by  a  boring 
beetle,  which  continues  its  work  after  the  wood  has  been 
made  into  furniture,  and  destroys  its  value.  The  leaves  have 
a  strong  aromatic  odor,  resembling  that  of  bay  rum. 

§  288.  Madrono,. — The  madroiia  (Arbutus  menziesii)  is 
one  of  the  most  striking  trees  of  the  Californian  forest.  It  is 


362  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

an  evergreen,  with  an  open  growth,  somewhat  like  that  of  a 
maple,  bright-green  and  lustrous  leaves,  and  a  bright-red 
bark.  Its  height  is  sometimes  fifty  feet ;  its  diameter  in  the 
trunk  two  feet.  The  leaves  are  oval  in  shape,  three  inches 
long,  pea-green  underneath,  and  dark  and  shining  above. 
The  bark  is  smooth,  and  it  peels  off  at  regular  seasons  ;  the 
new  bark  is  a  pea-green,  which  changes  to  a  bright  red.  The 
wood  is  very  hard,  and  is  used  to  some  extent  in  the  arts,  es- 
pecially for  making  the  wooden  stirrup  commonly  used  in  the 
State.  The  tree  bears  a  bright-red  berry  in  clusters,  of  which 
the  birds  are  fond. 

§  289.  Manzanita. — The  manzanita,  (Arctostaphylos  ylaiica) 
another  prominent  feature  in  the  California!!  forest,  is  a  dense, 
clump-like  shrub,  which  grows  as  high  as  twelve  feet,  and 
nearly  as  broad  as  it  is  high.  The  trunk  divides  near  the 
ground  into  several  or  many  branches,  and  these  terminate  in 
a  great  multitude  of  twigs,  so  that  the  shrub  is  a  dense  mass 
of  branches  and  branchlets,  all  of  which  are  very  crooked. 
The  wood  is  dense,  hard,  and  dark-red  in  color.  The  bark  is 
red  and  smooth,  occasionally  peeling  off  and  exposing  a  new 
light-green  bark,  which  soon  turns  red.  The  leaves  are  regu- 
larly oval  in  form,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  thick  and 
shining,  and  pea-green  in  color ;  they  set  vertically  upon  their 
stems.  The  manzanita  bears  a  pinkish-white  blossom  in  clus- 
ters, and  these  are  replaced  by  round  red  berries  about  half  an 
inch  in  diameter,  with  a  pleasant,  acidulous  taste.  The 
shrub  grows  in  the  coast  valleys,  and  in  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
up  near  to  the  limit  of  perpetual  snow.  The  name  means 
"  little  apple,"  manzana  being  the  Spanish  for  apple. 

§  290.  Oolss.— The  California!!  white  oak,  (Quercus  lolata) 
or  long-acorned  oak,  is  a  very  large  tree,  and  the  characteristic 
oak  of  California.  It  resembles  the  white  oak  of  the  Atlantic 
slope  in  the  color  of  its  bark  and  the  shape  of  its  leaves ;  but 
its  growth  is  very  different.  It  seldom  reaches  a  greater 
height  than  sixty  feet,  and  is  often  wider  than  high,  sometimes 


BOTANY.  363 

measuring  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  from  side  to  side. 
The  trunk,  which  occasionally  grows  to  be  eight  feet  through, 
throws  out  large  horizontal  boughs  within  ten  feet  of  the 
ground,  and  above  that  point  the  trunk  is  soon  lost  among 
the  large  branches.  The  tree  furnishes  no  straight  timber,  and 
the  wood  is  so  soft  and  brittle  as  to  be  of  no  use  in  the  arts ; 
whereas  the  white  oak  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  a  most 
valuable  tree,  with  a  trunk  so  tall  and  straight,  that  sills  and 
beams  of  it  sixty  feet  long  are  common,  and  with  a  wood  so 
tough,  that  it  supplies  all  the  axles  and  plough-beams  of  the 
country.  The  Californian  white  oak  is  not  even  fit  for  fence- 
rails.  The  tree,  however,  is  very  beautiful  and  majestic,  and 
the  open  groves  of  it  in  the  valleys  and  foot-hills,  form,  as 
Dr.  Newberry  says,  "  the  most  important  element  in  those 
scenes  of  quiet  beauty  which  so  often  excite  the  admiration  of 
the  traveler  in  California."  The  tree  bears  much  resemblance 
in  form  and  size  to  the  oak  x>f  England,  the  groves  of  it  appear- 
ing like  the  English  parks.  At  the  ends  of  the  large  boughs 
are  branches  which  hang  down  like  vines — giving  the  tree  a 
weeping  character;  and  one  tree  in  Napa  Valley  is  very 
strongly  marked  in  that  respect.  The  acorns  are  large,  some- 
times two  and  a  half  inches  long.  They  once  formed  the  chief 
article  of  food  of  the  Californian  Indians. 

The  fulvous  oak  ( Quercus  fulvescens)  is  a  deciduous  tree 
that  grows  about  thirty  feet  high,  with  leaves  somewhat  like 
those  of  the  Western  chinquapin.  The  acorn,  when  young,  is 
concealed  in  the  cup,  the  two  together  resembling  a  little 
wheel ;  but  the  acorn,  when  mature,  is  an  inch  and  a  half 
long,  and  projects  considerably  beyond  the  cup.  The  wood  is 
tougher  than  that  of  most  of  the  oaks  of  California. 

Kellogg's  oak  (Quercus  kellogyii)  is  a  large  deciduous  tree, 
found  only  in  California.  Its  leaves  are  deeply  sinuate,  with 
three  principal  lobes  on  each  side,  terminating  in  several  acute 
points.  It  bears  fruit  only  in  alternate  years,  or  at  least  most 
abundantly  every  other  year.  An  idea  prevails  that  the  acorns 
give  to  swine  a  disease  of  the  kidneys. 


364  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  huckleberry-leafed  oak  (Quercus  vaccinifolia)  is  a  shrub, 
from  four  to  six  feet  high,  which  grows  on  the  mountains  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  State.  Its  leaves,  in  size  and  form, 
resemble  the  huckleberry  ;  the  acorn  is  of  the  size  and  shape 
of  a  small  hazle-nut. 

In  the  mountains  north  of  Clear  Lake  a  tough  deciduous 
oak  is  found,  with  wood  fit  for  staves  and  wagon  timber,  but 
it  is  so  remote  from  steam  transportation  that  it  has  no  value 
at  present.  It  is  said  that  the  second  growth  of  some  of  the 
oaks  in  the  Sacramento  bottom  is  tough  enough  for  plough 
beams. 

The  evergreen  oak  (Quercus  agrifolia)  is  a  low,  spreading 
tree,  much  like  an  apple-tree  in  size  and  shape.  The  foliage, 
however,  is  darker  and  denser.  The  acorns  are  small,  thin, 
and  sharp-pointed.  The  wood  is  hard,  crooked  in  grain,  and 
valuable  for  knees  in  ship  building. 

The  Californian  chestnut  oak  (Quercus  densiflora)  is  a  low, 
handsome,  evergreen  tree,  with  a  leaf  like  that  of  the  chestnut. 
The  bark  is  extensively  used  in  tanning.  The  tree  is  rare 
north  of  latitude  39°,  and  is  most  abundant  in  the  mountains 
about  Santa  Cruz. 

The  Western  chinquapin,  (Gastanea  chrysophylla)  or  golden- 
leaved  chestnut,  is  an  evergreen  shrub  that  grows  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada.  At  the  height  of  three  feet  it  bears  an  edible  and 
palatable  fruit,  something  like  the  beech-nut  in  shape,  but 
larger.  The  flowers  and  ripe  fruit  are  often  found  on  the  same 
bush.  The  leaves  are  dark -green  above,  and  covered  with  a 
yellowish  powder  beneath.  The  Western  chinquapin  grows 
to  be  a  tree  thirty  feet  high  in  some  parts  of  Oregon. 

§  291.  Sycamore,  etc. — The  Mexican  sycamore  (Platanus 
racemosa)  exhibits  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Western 
sycamore  of  the  Atlantic  slope.  It  has  the  same  straggling, 
irregular  growth;  the  same  smooth,  white,  scaly  bark  ;  the 
same  large,  yellowish  leaf:  but  instead  of  having  only  one 
ball  on  a  stem,  like  the  Atlantic  sycamore,  it  has  several,  the 


BOTANY.  365 

stem  running  through  one  or  two,  and  terminating  in  the  last 
one. 

The  Californian  walnut  is  found  in  the  coast  valleys  from 
St.  Helena  to  Los  Angeles,  but  it  is  not  abundant  anywhere. 
The  tree  is  cultivated  for  ornament  and  for  its  nuts. 

It  is  said  that  there  are  indigenous  chestnuts  in  Mendocino 
County.  Wild  cherries  are  found  in  many  parts  of  the  State ; 
wild  plums  in  the  high  mountains,  and  crab  apples  in  the 
northern  counties. 

The  Californian  horse-chestnut,  or  buckeye,  (^Esculw  cali- 
fornica)  is  a  bush,  or  low,  spreading  tree,  abundant  in  the 
Sacramento,  San  Joaquin,  and  coast  valleys.  It  likes  to  grow 
about  rocky  ledges,  in  ravines,  and  on  the  banks  of  streams. 
Sometimes  it  throws  up  a  dozen  stems,  which  grow  to  a  thick- 
ness of  three  or  four  inches  each  ;  but  usually  it  has  one 
trunk,  six  or  eight  inches  through.  The  tree  rarely  exceeds 
fifteen  feet  in  height,  and  it  has  a  hemispherical  shape,  very 
dense  foliage,  rising  from  the  ground  in  a  globular  form.  It 
continues  to  put  forth  large  clusters  of  fragrant  blossoms  from 
early  spring  till  late  summer.  The  leaves  are  among  the  first 
to  open  of  the  deciduous  trees  of  the  State.  Five  leaves  grow 
together  on  one  stem.  The  fruit  has  a  close  resemblance  to 
that  of  the  buckeye-tree  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  but  is 
larger  and  more  abundant.  It  is  a  staple  article  of  food  with 
those  few  Californian  Indians  who  still  depend  upon  wild 
fruits  and  game  for  their  subsistence. 

The  mountain  mahogany  is  an  evergreen  found  on  the 
eastern  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  at  an  elevation  of  6,000 
feet  above  the  sea.  The  leaves  are  bright  and  glossy,  the 
growth  low,  the  trunk  crooked,  the  wood  red,  very  even  in 
grain,  hard,  heavy,  and  susceptible  of  high  polish,  and  the 
yellowish  blossoms  which  cover  the  tree  in  the  spring  are  rich 
in  a  vanilla-like  fragrance. 

§  292.  Poison  Oak. — The  poison  oak,  or  poison  ivy,  (Hhus 
toxicodejidron)  grows  abundantly  in  the  valleys,  the  Coast 


366  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Mountains,  and  the  Sierra,  and  is  a  prominent  and  important 
feature  of  the  botany  of  the  State.  One  of  the  first  lessons 
of  the  new-comer  in  California,  should  be  to  learn  to  distin- 
guish and  avoid  this  useless  and  dangerous  plant.  The  touch 
of  the  leaf  is  poisonous,  and  causes  a  very  irritating  eruption 
of  the  skin.  It  rapidly  communicates  by  the  touch  from  one 
part  of  the  body  to  another,  causing  severe  inflammations  and 
swellings.  The  most  delicate  parts  of  the  body  are  most  af- 
fected by  the  poison.  The  eyes  are  sometimes  closed  up  en- 
tirely by  the  swelling  round  them ;  and  many  cases  are  re- 
corded of  faces  so  swollen,  that  they  could  not  be  recognized 
by  intimate  friends.  Some  persons  are  not  affected  by  the 
touch  of  the  Rhus ;  but  instances  have  occurred  wherein  persons 
supposing  themselves,  after  long  experience,  to  be  free  from 
danger,  have  at  last  been  poisoned  :  and  when  the  virus  has 
once  taken  hold,  the  system  is  always  very  easily  affected  from 
that  time  forward.  Even  passing  to  the  leeward  of  the  bush 
on  a  windy  day,  or  going  through  the  smoke  of  a  fire  in 
which  it  is  burning,  will  bring  the  poison  to  the  surface  again. 
The  poison  oak — the  leaves  often  resemble  those  of  the  white 
oak  in  shape — abounds  in  the  grounds  adapted  to  picnics  near 
the  large  towns,  and  many  persons  are  affected  by  it  on  such 
occasions.  Many  remedies  are  in  use,  but  none  are  regarded  as 
a  certain  cure.  Among  them  are  steam  baths,  lotions  of  ker- 
osene, manzanita  leaves,  leaves  of  the  wild  sunflower,  (Grin- 
delia)  common  salt,  saleratus,  sal  peter,  bay  rum,  and  alcohol 
— each  being  used  separately — poultices  of  bread  and  milk, 
the  eating  of  the  buds  of  the  poisonous  plant,  and  homoeo- 
pathic Khus  pills. 

The  poison  oak  thrives  best  on  a  moist  soil,  and  in  the  shade. 
In  a  thicket  with  other  bushes  it  sends  up  many  thin  stalks 
eight  or  ten  feet  high,  with  large  luxuriant  leaves  at  the  top. 
In  the  shade,  the  leaves  are  green ;  in  the  open,  dry  ground, 
exposed  to  the  sun,  and  without  support  from  other  bushes, 
the  poison  oak  is  a  low,  poverty-stricken  little  shrub,  with  a  few 


BOTANY.  367 

red  leaves.  It  sometimes  attaches  itself  to  an  oak-tree,  be- 
comes a  climber,  and  attains  a  thickness,  though  very  rarely, 
of  four  inches  in  the  trunk,  with  a  height  of  forty  feet. 

§  293.  Various  Plants. — The  amole,  (  Chlorogalum  pomer- 
idianwn)  or  soap-plant,  has  an  onion-like,  bulbous  root,  which, 
when  rubbed  in  water,  makes  a  lather  like  soap,  and  is  good 
for  removing  dirt.  It  was  extensively  used  for  washing,  by 
the  Indians  and  Spanish  Californians,  previous  to  the  American 
conquest.  The  amole  has  a  stalk  four  or  five  feet  high,  from 
which  branches  about  eighteen  inches  long  spring  out.  The 
branches  are  covered  with  buds,  which  open  in  the  night,  be- 
ginning at  the  root  of  the  boughs,  about  four  inches  of  a  branch 
opening  at  a  time.  The  next  night,  the  buds  of  another  four 
inches  open,  and  so  on.  The  dry  bulb  abounds  in  tough  fibers, 
which  are  separated  from  the  other  material,  and  used  as  a 
substitute  for  hair  in  mattresses. 

The  mistletoe  grows  abundantly  on  the  oak-trees  of  Califor- 
nia. The  Spanish  moss,  (E-oernia  jubata)  which  hangs  in  long 
lace-like  gray  beards  from  the  branches,  also  serves  to  give 
beauty  to  the  groves  in  the  valleys.  We  have  willows  and 
cottonwood,  which  differ  little  in  appearance  from  those  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  There  are  wild  grapes,  blackberries, 
gooseberries,  huckleberries,  raspberries,  salmon-berries,  and 
strawberries.  A  truffle,  or  a  root  resembling  it,  is  found  in 
the  valleys  of  the  coast  and  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  grizzly 
bear  considers  it  a  delicacy,  and  frequently  digs  it  up.  A 
shrub  called  the  "joint-fir,"  (a  species  of  Ephedra)  sometimes 
used  for  making  tea,  is  found  in  Calaveras  and  Tuolumne 
Counties.  In  the  valleys  of  the  Coast  Mountains  is  found  the 
yerba  buena,  (Spanish  for  "  good  herb  ")  a  creeping  vine, 
bearing  some  resemblance  in  its  leaf  and  vine  to  the  wild 
strawberry.  It  has  a  strong  perfume,  half-way  between  pep- 
permint and  camphor.  The  yerba  de  la  viboray  (Spanish  for 
"  rattlesnake-herb,"  known  to  botanists  as  the  Daucus  pusillus) 
is  a  carrot-like  vegetable,  the  leaves  of  which  are  said  to  be  a 


368  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

specific  for  the  bite  of  a  rattlesnake.  California  has  no  indig- 
enous elms,  hickory,  beech,  birch,  persimmon,  mulberry, 
sassafras,  locust,  catalpa,  or  magnolia  trees. 

§  294.  Nutritious  Herbage.  —  Of  indigenous  nutritious 
grasses,  there  are  a  number  in  the  State.  The  wild  oats, 
though  not  a  grass,  may  be  mentioned  under  this  head.  It 
resembles  the  cultivated  oats  so  nearly  that  there  has  been 
some  doubt  whether  they  are  not  identical ;  but  the  opinion 
among  botanists  is  that  they  are  distinct  species.  The  wild 
oat,  in  the  year  1835,  was  found  only  south  of  the  Bay  of 
San  Francisco;  but  about  that  time,  when  the  white  men 
crossed  frequently  from  the  southern  to  the  northern  side  of 
the  bay,  the  oat  was  sown  in  a  natural  way  by  horses  and  cat- 
tie,  and  it  spread  rapidly  over  the  Sacramento  Valley  and  the 
coast  region.  It  grew  very  luxuriantly,  and  in  some  places 
surpassed  in  the  height,  size,  and  abundance  of  stalks,  any 
field  of  cultivated  oats  which  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  said 
that  in  some  localities  the  oat-stalks  were  so  high  that  men 
sitting  erect  on  horseback  could  not  see  each  Bother  at  a  dis- 
tance of  ten  feet.  The  soil  and  climate  were  evidently  very 
favorable  to  it.  Daring  the  last  six  or  eight  years,  the  wild 
oats  have  been  eaten  down  so  closely  by  cattle,  that  in  many 
places  they  have  been  killed  out.  They  are  propagated  from 
year  to  year,  not  by  the  roots,  but  by  the  seeds,  many  of 
which  fall  into  cracks  into  the  earth,  where  they  lie  in  safety 
until  the  rains  co*me,  when  the  ground  closes  up,  and  the  grain 
sprouts.  The  earth  cracks  in  the  summer  in  many  parts  of 
the  State  ;  and  in  places  where  the  wild  oats  grow,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  cracks  of  one  year  may  be  traced  the  next  season 
by  the  position  of  the  stalks  of  the  grain. 

The  wild  oat  grows  on  hill  and  plain,  and  furnishes  a  large 
part  of  the  wild  pasture  of  the  State.  It  is  wholesome,  nutri- 
tious, and  palatable  for  cattle.  Much  of  it  is  cut  for  hay. 
The  amount  of  grain  which  it  furnishes  is  small  in  proportion 
to  the  quantity  of  straw,  and  it  is  never  threshed. 


BOTANY.  369 

After  the  wild  oats,  in  importance  to  the  herdsman,  comes 
the  "  burr-clover,"  so  named  from  a  spherical  burr,  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  which  it  bears  in  clusters  of 
three.  This  burr-clover  is  found  in  all  the  settled  parts  of  the 
State.  Cattle  do  not  like  it  when  green  ;  but  after  it  dries, 
the  burrs  fall  upon  the  ground  and  are  picked  up  by  the  cat- 
tle, while  the  stranger  is  astonished  at  seeing  them  eating  and 
keeping  fat  on  what  appears  to  him  to  be  bare  earth.  On  ex- 
amining the  surface  of  the  ground,  he  will^find  that  it  is  cov- 
ered with  the  dry  stalks  and  burrs  of  the  burr-clover.  The 
bloom  consists  of  three  very  small  yellow  flowers.  It  is  said 
that  the  stalks  of  this  clover  take  root  whenever  the  joints 
touch  the  ground. 

The  alfilerilla,  vulgarly  called  "  filaree,"  (Erodium  cicuta- 
rium)  is  another  indigenous  nutritious  herb  of  much  import- 
ance to  the  herdsman.  It  is  succulent,  sweet,  hardy,  bearing 
clusters  of  spikes,  which  are  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  and 
have  given  it  the  name  of  pin-grass.  The  resemblance  of  its 
leaves  to  the  geranium  has  suggested  the  name  of  "  wild  ger- 
anium," by  which  title  it  is  also  known  to  some  persons.  Its 
large  root  sinks  deep  into  the  ground,  thus  enabling  it  to  re- 
sist the  drought,  while  above  the  surface  it  puts  forth  a  dense 
mass  of  stalks  and  leaves,  spreading  out  sometimes  several 
feet  in  every  direction.  Cattle  prefer  it  to  every  other  indig- 
enous herb  of  the  State.  The  seeds  seem  to  abound  through- 
out the  soil,  for  wherever  the  earth  is  ploughed  up  for  the 
first  time,  there  the  alfilerilia  appears,  though  it  may  never 
have  been  seen  there  before.  It  is  common  in  gardens,  culti- 
vated fields,  and  fallow  lands. 

The  white  Californian  clover  has  a  large  yellowish-white- 
bloom,  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter,  a 
beautiful  plant,  well  suited  as  an  ornament  for  yards  and  gar- 
dens. It  grows  very  large,  and  is  two  feet  high  in  moist,  fa- 
vorable situations ;  while  in  dry  places  it  will  also  mature  its 
seed  without  rising  more  than  two  or  three  inches  above  th& 
24 


370  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

ground.  It  is  very  sweet,  and  it  is  often  eaten  by  the  Indians, 
who  like  it  both  raw  and  boiled.  Cattle  are  also  extremely 
fond  of  it. 

Another  species  of  clover  has  a  round  bloom,  about  a  third 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  composed  of  violet-tinged  flowers. 

Another  clover  has  a  bloom  from  a  sixth  to  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  in  diameter,  the  flowers  of  which  are  subdued  green, 
tipped  with  pink  at  the  end. 

The  MelUotes  officinalis,  commonly  called  a  clover,  though 
not  strictly  entitled  to  that  name,  likes  a  very  moist  soil,  and 
then  grows  luxuriantly,  crowding  out  nearly  everything  else. 
Its  bloom  consists  of  a  drooping  head,  about  an  inch  long  and 
a  sixth  of  an  inch  thick,  hung  with  little  yellow  flowers. 
Cattle  are  not  fond  of  this  herb  in  any  shape  ;  but  they  like  it 
better  in  hay  than  when  green. 

Of  nutritious  grasses  there  are  a  number ;  but  they  do  not, 
unless  where  the  soil  is  exceptionally  moist,  form  a  sod.  The 
drought  of  summer  and  fall  seems  to  kill  the  roots. 

§  295.  Flowers. — Of  wild  flowers  there  are  a  great  variety 
and  abundance  in  California,  and  they  have  their  different  sea- 
sons for  blooming ;  and  in  canons  where  the  soil  is  always 
moist,  flowers  may  be  seen  in  every  month  of  the  year.  In 
the  spring-time  the  hills  are  frequently  covered  with  them, 
and  their  red,  blue,  01*  yellow  petals  hide  everything  else. 
Each  month  has  its  flowers :  In  March  the  grass  of  a  valley 
may  be  hiden  under  red,  in  April  under  blue,  and  in  May 
under  yellow  blossoms. 

Grace  Greenwood,  writing  in  May,  said  :  "  The  grand  Cali- 
fornia flower-show  is  at  its  height.  Anything  more  gorgeously 
beautiful  than  the  display  in  meadows  and  wild  pasture  lands, 
on  hill-side  and  river-side,  it  were  impossible  for  any  one  but  a 
mad  florist  to  imagine.  Along  the  railroads  on  either  hand 
runs  continuously  the  rich,  radiant  bloom.  Your  sight  be- 
comes pained,  your  very  brain  bewildered,  by  watching  the 
galloping  rainbow.  There  are  great  fields,  in  which  flowers 


BOTANY.  371 

of  many  sorts  are  mingled  in  a  perfect  carnival  of  color ;  then 
come  exclusive  family  gatherings,  where  the  blues,  the  crim- 
sons, or  the  purples,  have  it  all  their  own  way  ;  and  every 
now  and  then  you  come  upon  grea.t  tracts,  resplendent  with 
the  most  royally  gorgeous  of  all  wild  flowers,  the  yellow,  or 
orange  poppy,  which  an  old  Russian  bear  of  a  botanist  has 
stretched  on  the  rack  of  the  name  Eschscholtzia.,  but  which 
long  ago  some  poetic  Spaniard,  neither  a  flower  "  sharp,"  nor 
a  flatterer  of  flower  sharps,  taking  a  hint  from  nature,  as  men 
were  modest  enough  to  do  in  his  time,  christened  El  copo  de 
oro  [the  golden  cup].  Every  such  tract  where  the  sumptuous 
blossoms  stand  thick,  reminds  one  of  the  *  Field  of  the  Cloth 
of  Gold.'  They  are  peculiarly  joyous  looking  flowers,  massed 
together,  dancing  and  hob-nobbing,  and  lifting  their  golden 
goblets  to  be  filled  by  the  morning  sun." 

The  grass  and  herbage  begin  to  grow  and  clothe  the  land- 
scape in  green  after  the  first  heavy  rains  of  the  rainy  season. 
These  rains  may  come  in  December,  January,  or  February  ; 
and  until  they  do  come,  the  earth,  in  the  districts  not  covered 
with  timber,  is  brown.  The  grass  continues  green  until  June, 
when  it  begins  to  dry  up  and  turn  yellow  and  brown,  which 
colors  then  predominate  in  the  landscape  until  the  rains  come 
again.  The  death  of  the  grass,  except  at  high  elevations,  is 
caused  not  by  the  cold  but  by  the  drought ;  and  in  those  months 
when  the  prairies  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  are  covered  with 
snow,  the  valleys  of  California  are  dressed  in  the  brilliant 
green  of  young  grass. 

The  azaleas  of  California  are  abundant  and  rich  in  perfume  ; 
a  species  of  calycanthus,  without  fragrance,  is  found  in  the 
canons,  and  the  ceanothus,  or  Californian  lilac,  of  which  there 
are  many  species,  is  a  beautiful  evergreen  shrub,  growing 
about  ten  feet  high,  with  clusters  of  lilac-like  flowers,  of 
various  shades  of  blue,  violet,  and  red,  according  to  the 
species.  The  tree  produces  a  multitude  of  little  twigs,  and  a 
dense  foliage,  and  may  be  trimmed  into  almost  any  shape. 


372  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

§  296.  Desert  Vegetation. — Many  varieties  of  cactus  are 
found  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  State,  and  in  the  Colorado 
Desert  they  form  a  considerable  portion  of  the  vegetation. 
The  largest  is  the  candelabrum  cactus,  which  grows  to  a 
height  of  fifty  feet,  and  frequently  has  from  two  to  six  branches 
about  half  as  thick  as  the  trunk.  These  run  out  horizontally 
a  foot  or  two,  and  then  turning  at  a  right  angle,  rise  vertically, 
parallel  with  the  main  stem.  Many  of  the  wild  cacti  bear 
insipid  edible  fruits,  and  yet  are  prized  by  the  Indians  and 
travelers  for  their  abundant  moisture.  The  dried  pitahaya 
resembles  a  fig  in  taste. 

Several  species  of  palm  grow  in  the  Colorado  and  Mojave 
deserts,  and  one  bears  an  edible  date  ;  but  the  tree  is  not  com- 
mon nor  the  fruit  abundant.  The  yucca,  or  bayonet-tree, 
sometimes  grows  to  be  thirty-five  feet  in  height,  with  a  trunk 
two  feet  through  ;  but  usually  it  is  about  ten  feet  high,  with  a 
trunk  eight  inches  in  diameter.  It  has  no  twigs  or  branches, 
but  sometimes  it  divides  into  two  trunks.  The  foliage,  con- 
sisting of  leaves  eighteen  inches  long,  and  shaped  like  the 
blade  of  a  bayonet*,  hangs  down  from  the  tops  of  the  trunks. 

The  mezquit  (Algarobia  glandulosa)  is  a  low  tree  of  the 
Colorado  Desert.  It  sometimes  reaches  a  height  of  twenty 
feet,  with  a  trunk  fifteen  inches  in  diameter.  The  lower 
branches  are  very  near  the  ground,  and  the  whole  tree  has  a 
very  regular,  semi-spherical  form.  The  leaves  are  like  those  of 
the  black  locust,  and  the  foliage  thin.  The  tree  bears  numer- 
ous pods,  from  three  to  five  inches  long,  full  of  sweet,  nourish- 
ing  beans,  about  the  size  of  the  common  white  bean.  The 
mezquit-bean  is  often  eaten  by  men,  and  horses  and  mules  are 
very  fond  of  it. 

The  curly  mezquit  (Strombocarpus  pubescens)  is  a  similar 
shrub,  and  bears  a  crooked  bean,  called  the  "  screw-bean."  It 
also  grows  only  on  the  desert. 

The  maguey,  or  American  aloe,  (Agave  americana)  which 
grows  to  the  height  of  fifty  feet,  and  a  smaller  species  which 


BOTANY.  373 

rises  to  a  height  of  eight  feet,  and  is  abundant  in  the  southern 
counties,  are  indigenous  in  the  State. 

§  297.  Swamp  Vegetation. — The  swamp  lands  of  Califor- 
nia abound  with  reeds,  or  tule  as  they  are  here  called.  The 
round  tule,  (Scirpus  lacustris)  the  principal  species,  has  no 
leaf,  but  a  plain,  round  stalk,  sometimes  an  inch  thick  at  the 
butt,  and  fifteen  feet  high,  but  usually  not  more  than  half  so 
large.  It  will  grow  in  places  constantly  covered  with  water 
several  feet  deep,  forms  a  thick  mat  with  its  roots,  and  cannot 
be  killed  readily. 

The  triangular  tule  grows  in  shallower  water,  or  in  land  dry 
for  portions  of  the  year,  and  neat  cattle  get  fat  on  it. 

The  cat-tail  flag  grows  with,  the  tule,  but  in  drier  land  than 
the  others,  and  can  be  killed  out  with  less  difficulty.  The 
stalks  are  used  by  coopers  to  put  between  the  staves  in  their 
casks,  and  the  fiber  of  the  flower  or  cat-tail  has  been  gathered 
for  mattresses  and  pillows. 

§  298.  Marine  Vegetation. — The  ocean  near  the  shore 
from  the  Golden  Gate,  southward,  has  a  great  variety  of  algae 
or  sea-weed,  some  of  which  are  very  beautiful  in  the  delicacy 
of  their  forms  and  the  delicate  tints  of  their  covering.  These 
are  extensively  used  for  ornamental  purposes.  Others,  like 
the  Macrocystis  pyrifera,  have  stems  of  great  length,  occa- 
sionally reaching  two  hundred  yards,  grow  from  a  depth  of 
forty  feet,  and  present  such  a  mass  of  foliage  in  the  water  as 
to  perceptibly  impede  navigation.  The  larger  species  of  algaa 
are  especially  abundant  off  the  coast  of  Santa  Barbara  County. 

§  299.  Alpine  Vegetation.— The  vegetation  on  the  Califor- 
nian  Alps  is  peculiar.  Both  grasses  and  trees  are  abundant  at 
elevations  much  above  those  in  which  they  flourish  in  Switz- 
erland. There  the  trees  reach  to  6,500  feet  above  the  sea, 
here  to  11,000  feet.  There,  no  tree  lives  where  snow  lies 
through  the  year ;  here,  two  species  flourish  1 ,000  feet  above 
the  snow  line  ;  and  five  species  that  reach  a  diameter  of  three 
feet  in  the  trunk  grow  at  places  where  the  temperature  is  be- 


374  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

low  the  freezing  point  350  nights  in  the  year.  In  general 
character,  the  vegetation  near  the  snow  line  resembles  that  of 
the  Arctic  more  nearly  than  that  of  the  Swiss  Alps.  There 
are  many  bodies  of  rich  pasturage,  composed  of  true  grasses 
and  of  sedge  grasses,  at  high  elevations,  and  never  yet  occu- 
pied by  white  men.  Mosses  are  as  abundant  as  in  Switzer- 
land. The  snow  plant,  (Sarcodes  sanguined)  is  found  fre- 
quently below  the  snow  line,  but  looks  prettiest  when  it 
shows  its  brilliant  red  tints  amidst  the  white  mantle  from 
which  it  derives  its  name. 


ZOOLOGY.  375 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

ZOOLOGy. 

§  300.  General  List. — Among  the  indigenous  animals  of 
California  are  the  grizzly  bear,  the  black  bear,  the  cougar,  the 
wild-cat,  the  gray  wolf,  the  coyote,  three  foxes,  the  badger, 
the  raccoon,  the  opossum,  the  mountain-cat,  the  weazel,  two 
skunks,  one  porcupine,  three  squirrels,  two  spermophiles,  two 
ground-squirrels,  three  rats,  three  jumping-rats,  one  jumping- 
mouse,  nine  mice,  one  mole,  the  elk,  one  deer,  one  antelope, 
the  mountain  sheep,  three  hares,  two  rabbits,  the  seal,  the  sea- 
otter,  the  sea-lion,  the  beaver,  two  vultures,  the  golden  eagle, 
the  bald  eagle,  the  fishhawk,  eighteen  other  hawks,  nine  owls, 
the  road-runner,  twelve  woodpeckers,  four  humming-birds, 
eleven  flycatchers,  one  hundred  and  nine  singers,  one  pigeon, 
two  doves,  three  grouse,  three  quails,  one  sandhill  crane,  forty- 
one  waders,  sixty-six  swimmers,  including  two  swans  and  five 
geese,  about  two  dozen  snakes,  including  the  rattlesnake,  half 
a  dozen  salmon,  two  codfish,  and  one  mackerel. 

§  301.  Sears. — The  grizzly  bear,  ( TTrsus  horribilis)  is  the 
largest  and  most  formidable  of  the  quadrupeds  of  California. 
He  grows  to  be  four  feet  high  and  seven  feet  long,  with  a 
weight,  when  very  large  and  fat,  of  two  thousand  pounds,  be- 
ing the  largest  of  the  carnivorous  animals,  and  much  heavier 
than  the  lion  or  tiger  ever  get  to  be,  but  ordinarily  does  not 
exceed  eight  or  nine  hundred  pounds  in  weight.  In  color  the 
body  is  a  light  grayish-brown,  dark  brown  about  the  ears  and 


376  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

along  the  ridge  of  the  back,  and  nearly  black  on  the  legs. 
The  hair  is  long,  coarse,  and  wiry,  and  stiff  on  the  top  of  the 
neck  and  between  the  shoulders.  The  "grizzly,"  as  he  is 
usually  called,  is  more  common  in  California  than  any 
other  kind  of  bear,  and  was  at  one  time  exceedingly  numerous 
for  so  large  an  animal ;  but  he  offered  so  much  meat  for  the 
hunters,  and  did  so  much  damage  to  the  farmers,  that  he  has 
been  industriously  hunted,  and  his  numbers  have  been  greatly 
reduced.  He  ranges  throughout  the  State,  but  prefers  to  make 
his  home  in  the  chaparral  or  bushes,  whereas  the  black  bear 
likes  the  heavy  timber.  The  grizzly  is  very  tenacious  of  life, 
and  he  is  seldom  immediately  kille4  by  a  single  bullet.  His 
thick,  wiry  hair,  tough  skin,  heavy  coats  of  fat  when  in  good 
condition,  and  large  bones,  go  far  to  protect  his  vital  organs ; 
but  he  often  seems  to  preserve  all  his  strength  and  activity 
for  an  hour  or  more  after  having  been  shot  through  the  lungs 
and  liver  with  large  rifle  balls.  He  is  one  of  the  most  dan- 
gerous animals  to  attack.  There  is  much  probability  that 
when  shot  he  will  not  be  killed  outright.  When  merely 
wounded  he  is  ferocious  ;  his  weight  and  strength  are  so  great 
that  he  bears  down  all  opposition  before  him ;  and  he  is  very 
quick,  his  speed  in  running  being  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the 
horse.  In  attacking  a  man,  he  usually  rises  on  his  hind  legs, 
strikes  his  enemy  with  one  of  his  powerful  fore-paws,  and  then 
commences  to  bite  him.  If  the  man  lies  still,  with  his  face 
down,  the  bear  will  usually  content  himself  with  biting  him 
for  a  while  about  the  arms  and  legs,  then  go  off  a  few  steps, 
and  after  watching  him  a  short  time,  will  go  away.  But  let 
the  man  move,  and  the  bear  is  upon  him  again ;  let  him  fight, 
and  he  will  be  in  imminent  danger  of  being  torn  to  pieces. 
About  half  a  dozen  men,  on  an  average,  are  killed  yearly  in 
California  by  grizzly  bears,  and  as  many  more  are  cruelly 
mutilated. 

Fortunately,  the  grizzly  bear  is  not  disposed  to  attack  man, 
and  never  makes  the  first  assault,  unless  driven  by  hunger  or 


ZOOLOGY.  377 

maternal  anxiety.  The  dam  will  attack  any  man  who  comes 
near  her  cubs,  and  on  this  account  it  is  dangerous  to  go  in  the 
early  summer  afoot  through  chaparral  where  bears  make  their 
home.  Usually  a  grizzly  will  get  out  of  the  way  when  he  sees 
or  hears  a  man,  and  sometimes,  but  rarely,  will  run  when 
wounded.  It  is  said  that  grizzlies,  in  seasons  of  scarcity,  used 
to  break  into  the  huts  of  the  Indians  and  eat  them.  No  in- 
stance  of  this  kind,  however,  has  been  reported  for  some  years 
past. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  food  of  the  grizzly  is  vegetable, 
such  as  grass,  clover,  berries,  acorns,  and  roots.  The  manza- 
nita,  service,  salmon,  and  whortleberries,  are  all  favorites  with 
him.  The  roots  which  he  eats  are  of  many  different  species, 
and  it  was  from  him  that  we  learned  the  existence  of  a  Cali- 
fornian  truffle,  very  similar  to  the  European  tuber  of  the  same 
name.  The  grizzly  is  very  fond  of  fresh  pork,  at  least  after 
he  knows  its  taste,  and  which  he  soon  learns  if  swine  come 
within  his  reach.  The  farmers  in  those  districts  where  the 
bears  are  abundant,  shut  up  their  hogs  every  night  in  corrals 
or  pens,  surrounded  by  very  strong  and  high  fences,  which  the 
bears  frequently  tear  down.  After  having  killed  a  hog,  if 
any  part  of  the  carcass  is  left,  the  grizzly  will  return  at  night 
and  feast  upon  the  remains,  until  it  becomes  putrid.  He  pre- 
fers, however,  the  fresh  pork,  if  it  can  be  had.  Not  un fre- 
quently the  grizzly  discovers  the  carcasses  of  deer,  elk,  and 
antelope,  killed  by  hunters,  who  have  gone  off  after  horses  to 
carry  their  game  home.  In  such  case,  the  hunter  usually  finds 
little  left  for  him  when  he  gets  back.  They  do  not  like  climb- 
ing, and  rarely  attempt  to  ascend  trees.  The  grizzly,  though 
he  often  moves  about  and  feeds  in  the  day,  prefers  the  night, 
and  almost  invariably  selects  it  as  the  time  for  approaching 
houses,  as  he  often  does,  in  search  of  food.  The  cub  is  one  of 
the  most  playful,  good-humored,  and  amusing  of  animals.  He 
will  tumble  somersets,  sit  up  on  his  haunches  and  box,  and  in 
some  of  his  pranks  will  show  a  humor  and  intelligence 


378  RESOURCES   OP  CALIFORNIA. 

scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  very  young  children.  The  grizzly 
may  easily  be  tamed,  and  its  becomes  very  fond  of  its  master. 
Adams,  the  California!!  mountaineer  and  bear-hunter,  trained 
several  grizzlies  so  that  they  accompanied  him  in  his  hunting 
excursions,  defended  him  against  wild  animals,  and  carried 
burdens  for  him.  The  meat  of  the  young  grizzly  resembles 
pork  in  texture  and  taste,  exceeding  it  in  juiciness  and  greasi- 
ness ;  but  the  meat  of  the  old  he-bear  is  extremely  strong,  and 
to  delicate  stomachs  it  is  nauseating. 

The  black  bear  (  Ursus  americanus)  is  found  in  the  timbered 
portions  of  California,  but  is  not  abundant  anywhere,  and  is 
more  frequently  seen  near  the  coast  north  of  Bodega  than  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  State.  Dr.  Newberry,  speaking  of 
the  food  of  the  black  bear  on  this  Coast,  says :  "  The  subsis- 
tence of  the  black  bears  in  the  northern  portion  of  California 
is  evidently,  for  the  most  part,  vegetable.  The  manzanita, 
wild  plum,  and  wild  cherry,  which  fruit  grow  profusely,  and 
are  very  low,  assist  in  making  up  his  bill  of  fare.  Rarely,  too, 
we  saw  trees  of  yellow-pine  bearing  marks  of  bears'  teeth, 
where  they  had  torn  off  the  outer  bark  to  get  at  the  succulent 
inner  layer,  which  is  capable  of  sustaining  life,  and  to  which 
the  Indians  very  generally  have  recourse  when  pressed  with 
hunger."  It  is  believed  that  neither  the  grizzly  nor  the  black 
bear  hybernates  in  California. 

§  302.  Felines. — The  cougar  panther  of  California,,  sup- 
posed by  Dr.  Newberry  to  be  the  Fells  concolor — the  same 
with  the  panther  ipund  on  the  Atlantic  slope  of  the  continent 
— has  a  body  larger  than  that  of  the  common  sheep,  and  a  tail 
more  than  half  the  length  of  the  body.  Its  color  is  dirty- 
white  on  the  belly,  and  elsewhere  a  brownish-yellow,  mottled 
with  dark  tips  on  all  the  hairs.  The  panther  is  a  cowardly 
animal,  and,  except  when  driven  by  some  extraordinary 
motive,  never  attacks  man.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  was  out 
hunting,  dressed  in  a  buff  coat,  was  creeping  through  some 
brush  to  get  near  a  deer,  when  he  felt  a  heavy  animal  strike 


ZOOLOGY.  379 

his  back.  He  sprang  up  very  suddenly,  and  saw  a  panther 
which  had  jumped  down  upon  him  from  a  tree,  probably  mis- 
taking him  for  a  calf  or  a  deer.  The  brute  seemed  very 
much  astonished  and  frightened  at  seeing  a  man  there,  and 
immediately  fled  at  full  speed.  The  panther  is  nocturnal  in 
his  habits,  and  always  prefers  the  night  as  a  time  for  attacking 
colts,  which  are  a  favorite  prey  with  him.  He  is  found  in  all 
parts  of  the  State  where  there  is  timber,  but  he  never  stops 
long  in  any  place,  unless  he  can  find  bushes  to  hide  in. 

The  American  wild-cat  (Lynx  rufus)  is  common  in  Califor- 
nia, particularly  in  the  vicinity  of  the  bays  of  San  Francisco 
and  San  Pablo,  where  he  often  catehes  fish  and  water-fowl,  as 
well  as  land-animals.  His  color  is  a  light  brown,  with  dim, 
dark  spots  on  the  sides,  and  longitudinal  lines  along  the  mid- 
dle of  the  back. 

§  303.  Canines. — The  coyote  is  very  common  in  the  State, 
and  occupies  the  same  place  here  with  that  occupied  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  by  the  prairie-wolf.  Dr.  Newberry  thinks 
the  two  belong  to  the  same  species,  ( Canis  latrans)  but  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  they  are  specifically  different.  The 
color  of  the  coyote  has  more  of  a  reddish  tinge,  he  howls 
more,  does  not  bark  so  much,  and  is  more  cunning.  His  food 
consists  chiefly  of  rabbits,  grouse,  small  birds,  mice,  lizards, 
and  frogs  ;  and  in  time  of  scarcity  he  will  eat  carrion,  grass- 
hoppers, and  T)ugs.  He  is  very  fond  of  poultry,  pigs,  and 
lambs,  and  will  destroy  almost  as  many  of  them  as  would  a 
fox.  He  is  one  of  the  worst  enemies  and  most  troublesome 
pests  of  the  farmer.  His  method  of  catching  chickens  is  to 
hide  near  the  hen-roost  about  daylight,  and,  as  the  hens  come 
down,  he  pounces  upon  them  from  his  hiding-place  ;  and  his 
motions  are  often  so  quick,  that  the  victim  has  not  even  time 
to  squall  before  she  dies.  In  the  spring  and  autumn,  when 
wild  geese  and  ducks  are  abundant,  many  coyotes  make  their 
homes  in  the  tules,  where  they  catch  birds  wounded  by  the, 
hunters. 


380  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

The  coyote  loves  nothing  better  than  a  young  pig.  When 
he  sees  an  old  sow  with  her  young  ones,  he  will  hide,  and  wait 
a  long  time,  in  hopes  that  a  little  one  will  come  within  his 
reach  ;  but  if  there  be  no  hiding-place,  he  goes  up  boldly.  The 
sow  will  at  once  face  the  assailant,  and  start  to  attack  him. 
He  allows  her  to  come  up  within  a  few  feet  of  him,  and  then 
moves  off  slowly  ;  and  she,  like  a  fool,  thinking  she  will  catch 
him,  continues  the  chase.  While  running,  he  keeps  his  head 
turned  to  one  side,  partly  to  watch  her,  and  partly  to  watch 
the  pigs ;  and  when  he  has  seduced  her  far  enough  away,  he 
suddenly  makes  a  dash  at  the  pigs,  and,  getting  one  of  them, 
runs  off  with  it,  leaving  the  agonized  and  furious  sow  far  be- 
hind. If  the  coyote  does  not  succeed  in  getting  a  pig  at  the 
first  attempt — that  is,  if  he  does  not  lead  the  sow  far  enough 
away — he  tries  it  again  and  again,  till  he  succeeds,  the  sow 
being  so  stupid  as  to  follow  him,  after  having  repeated  oppor- 
tunities to  see  his  purpose. 

The  coyotes  frequently  go  in  packs,  and  sometimes  will 
attack  a  cow.  On  such  occasions,  they  have  a  concerted  plan 
of  operations  :  they  surround  their  intended  victim,  and  while 
those  in  front  rush  at  her  as  a  feint,  those  behind  attempt  to 
cut  her  hamstrings ;  and  when  they  are  once  cut,  she  falls 
completely  at  their  mercy  ;  and  they  quickly  pick  her  bones. 

The  coyote  is  a  great  thief,  and  will  steal  the  pillow  from 
under  a  sleeping  man's  head  ;  for  it  happens  in  California  that 
bags  of  provisions  are  often  used  as  pillows.  When  hungry, 
he  will  gnaw  anything  that  is  greasy,  and  frequently  cuts  off 
the  hemp  and  rawhide  ropes  with  which  horses  are  tied  out  at 
night ;  but  he  never  bites  into  hair  ropes,  which  for  that  rea- 
son were  formerly  used  exclusively  for  staking  out  horses. 

The  coyote  is  nocturnal  in  his  habits,  and  is  very  fond  of 
howling  or  yelping.  He  begins  with  a  shrill,  quick  bark,  and 
follows  it  with  a  succession  of  yelps,  ending  in  a  long-drawn, 
quavering,  melancholy  howl.  When  one  begins,  all  others 
within  hearing  take  up  the  cry.  Twenty  years  ago,  the  trav- 


ZOOLOGY.  381 

eler  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  rarely  passed  a  night  without 
hearing  their  music.  They  are  not  so  numerous  now,  but  still 
they  are  frequently  seen  in  the  most  densely-settled  parts  of 
the  country. 

The  gray  wolf  (Canis  occidentalis)  was  once  found  in  all 
parts  of  California,  but  has  become  very  rare  in  the  more 
densely-settled  districts. 

The  red  fox  ( Vulpes  fulvus)  is  found  north  of  latitude 
37°  ;  the  gray  fox  (  Vulpes  mrginianus)  in  all  the  timbered 
parts  of  the  State.  The  coast  fox  (Vulpes  littoralis)  is 
found  only  on  the  island  of  San  Miguel,  off  the  coast  of  Santa 
Barbara.  In  its  color  it  bears  a  great  resemblance  to  the  gray 
fox,  but  it  is  not  more  than  half  as  large,  is  less  cunning,  and 
is  slower  in  its  motions.  Its  tail  is  only  one-third  the  length 
of  its  body.  The  specimens  observed  were  very  bold  and 
stupid,  allowing  themselves  to  be  caught  over  and  over  again 
in  the  same  manner. 

The  desert  fox,  (  Vulpes  macrourus)  which  is  found  in  the 
central  deserts  of  the  continent,  crosses  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
and  is  often  killed  in  Calaveras  and  Tuolumne  Counties. 

§  304.  Badger,  etc.  —  The  American  badger  (Taxidea 
americana)  is  abundant  on  the  plateau  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
and  is  occasionally  found  in  other  parts  of  the  State.  It  is 
very  shy,  and  is  rarely  seen  by  the  traveler. 

The  black-footed  raccoon  (Procyon  hernandezii)  is  found  in 
the  timbered  portions  of  the  Pacific  slope  of  our  continent 
from  Santa  Barbara  to  British  Columbia.  It  is  longer  than 
the  Atlantic  raccoon,  (Procyon  lotor)  but  it  resembles  it  very 
closely  in  its  mental  character  and  capacity,  habits  and  ap- 
pearance. The  raccoon  is  fond  of  grapes,  and  when  he  enters 
a  vineyard  selects  those  of  the  finest  flavor. 

An  opossum  (Didelphys  californica)  is  found  in  the  wooded 
portions  of  the  State,  but  is  not  abundant. 

The  yellow-haired  porcupine  (Erethizon  epixanthus)  a  native 
of  California,  is  the  largest  of  its  genus.  The  spines  are  a 


382  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

couple  of  inches  long,  yellowish  in  color,  with  brown  tips.  On 
the  lower  part  of  the  sides  the  spines  are  replaced  by  long, 
stiff  bristles. 

The  mountain  cat,  or  striped  bassaris  (JBassaris  astuta)  is 
abundant  along  the  western  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  be- 
tween latitudes  36°  and  39°.  The  body  is  about  the  size  of 
that  of  the  domestic  cat,  but  the  nose  is  very  long  and  sharp, 
and  the  tail  very  long  and  large.  The  color  of  the  animal  is 
dark  gray,  with  rings  of  black  on  the  tail.  The  miners  call 
it  the  "  mountain  cat,"  and  frequently  tame  it.  It  is  a  favor- 
ite pet  with  them,  becomes  very  playful  and  familiar,  and  is 
far  more  affectionate  than  the  common  cat,  which  it  might  re- 
place, for  it  is  very  good  at  catching  mice. 

The  pine-marten  (Mustela  Americana)  is  found  in  Califor- 
nia, but  is  rare. 

The  yellow-cheeked  weazel  (Putorius  xanthogenys)  is  found 
along  the  coast,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco. 

The  common  mink  (Putorius  vison)  has  a  skin  as  valuable 
as  that  of  the  beaver  ;  the  fur  is  of  a  dark,  brownish  chestnut 
color,  with  a  white  spot  on  the  end  of  the  chin. 

California  has  two  skunks,  (Mephitis  occidentalis  and  Me- 
phitis bicolor)  very  common  animals.  The  Mephitis  bicolor, 
or  little  striped  skunk,  is  chiefly  found  south  of  latitude  39°  ; 
the  other  in  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  the  State.  The 
colors  of  both  are  black  and  white. 

§  305.  /Squirrels. — The  Californian  gray  squirrel,  (Sciurm 
fossor)  the  most  beautiful  and  one  of  the  largest  of  the  squirrel 
genus,  inhabits  all  the  pine  forests  of  the  State.  Its  color  on 
the  back  is  a  finely-grizzled  bluish  gray,  and  white  beneath. 
At  the  base  of  the  ear  is  a  little  woolly  tuft,  of  a  chestnut  color. 
The  sides  of  the  feet  are  covered  with  hair  in  the  winter,  but  are 
bare  in  the  summer ;  the  body  is  more  slender  and  delicate  in 
shape  than  that  of  the  Atlantic  gray  squirrel.  It  sometimes 
grows  to  be  twelve  inches  long  in  the  head  and  body,  and  fifteen 
inches  long  in  the  tail,  making  the  entire  length  twenty-seven 


ZOOLOGY.  383 

inches.  Dr.  Newberry  says :  "  The  Californian  gray  squirrel 
is  eminently  a  tree-squirrel,  scarcely  descending  to  the  ground 
but  for  food  and  water,  and  it  subsists  almost  exclusively  on 
the  seeds  of  the  largest  and  loftiest  pine  known,  (Pinus  lam- 
bertiana)  the  '  sugar-pine '  of  the  Western  coast.  The  cones  of 
this  magnificent  tree  are  from  twelve  to  sixteen  inches  in 
length,  and  contain  each  one  hundred  or  more  seeds  of  the 
size  and  shape  of  the  small  white  bean  of  commerce.  These 
cones  would  be  unmanageable  by  the  squirrel  in  the  tree, 
and  he  has  the  habit,  so  common  in  the  family,  of  dropping 
them  to  the  ground,  where  he  can  dissect  them  at  leisure.  This 
he  usually  does  early  in  the  morning,  climbing  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  topmost  branches,  where  the  cones  hang,  and  cut- 
ting off  a  sufficient  number  to  supply  his  wants  for  the  day. 
He  then  descends,  and,  commencing  at  the  base  of  the  cone, 
tears  off  the  scales  in  rapid  succession,  and  skilfully  possesses 
himself  of  the  seeds  which  they  conceal.  He  is  compelled, 
however,  to  supply  other  wants  than  his  own,  for  the  smaller 
pine-squirrel  (Sciwrus  douglasii)  and  the  ground-squirrel 
( Tamias  townsendii)  appropriate  a  large  share  of  his  booty. 
"When  oak-trees  are  near,  and  acorns  are  ripe,  he  has  recourse 
to  them  for  subsistence ;  as  often  as  opportunity  offers,  robbing 
the  woodpeckers  of  their  stores,  in  which  also  he  has  the  active 
cooperation  of  his  more  diminutive  congeners.  From  the  fact 
that  he  feeds  upon  the  ground,  it  has  been  supposed  that  he  was 
less  active,  and  less  fitted  for  climbing,  than  most  tree-squirrels. 
This,  I  think,  is  not  true.  He  is  exceedingly  quick  and  grace- 
ful in  his  movements ;  and  if  less  frequently  seen  to  spring 
from  tree  to  tree  than  the  black  and  gray  squirrels  of  eastern 
States,  it  is  because  he  inhabits  coniferous  trees,  which  are  re- 
markable for  the  insignificance  of  their  branches  compared 
with  the  size  of  the  trunk,  the  limbs  never  stretching  out  and 
interlocking,  as  those  of  the  oak  and  maple  and  other  trees,  in 
which  our  common  species  live." 
The  Californian  pine-squirrel  (Sciurus  douglasii)  inhabits  the 


384  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

pine  and  redwood  forests  of  the  State.  He  is  gray  above  and 
red  beneath,  with  a  black  stripe  separating  the  two  colors.  He 
lives  in  a  burrow  or  hollow  log,  but  climbs  well,  and  obtains 
his  food  chiefly  from  the  pine-cones,  which  he  cuts  off  in  num- 
bers at  a  time,  and  tears  to  pieces  at  his  leisure,  after  they 
have  fallen  to  the  ground.  He  lays  up  a  store  of  the  seed  in 
his  burrow,  for  his  winter  supply.  He  is  quick  in  his  motions, 
graceful  in  his  attitudes,  and  shy  in  his  habits. 

The  Missouri  striped  ground-squirrel  has  five  dark-brown 
stripes  on  the  back,  separated  by  four  gray  stripes ;  the  sides 
are  reddish-brown,  the  belly  grayish-white,  and  the  tail  rusty- 
black  above  and  rusty-brown  beneath.  The  animal  is  four  or 
five  inches  long.  It  is  found  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  State. 
It  eats  acorns  and  the  seeds  of  the  pine,  manzanita,  and  ceano- 
thus,  in  the  thickets  of  which  last-named  brush  it  prefers  to 
hide  its  stores. 

Report  says  a  flying  squirrel  has  been  found  in  Mendocino 
County,  but  I  believe  it  has  never  been  described. 

§  306.  /Spermophiles. — The  spermophile  has  two  species  in 
California,  which  resemble  each  other  so  closely,  that  they 
are  usually  supposed  to  be  the  same ;  they  are  popularly 
known  as  the  Californian  ground-squirrels,  the  little  pests 
which  are  so  destructive  to  the  grain  crops.  Their  bodies  are 
ten  or  eleven  inches  long  in  the  largest  specimens ;  the  tail  is 
eight  inches  long  and  bushy ;  the  ears  large ;  the  cheeks 
poucheci,  and  herein  consists  the  chief  difference  between 
them  and  squirrels;  the  color  above,  black,  yellowish-brown, 
and  brown,  in  distinct  mottlings,  hoary-yellowish  on  the  sides 
of  the  head  and  neck,  and  pale  yellowish-brown  on  the  under 
side  of  the  body  and  legs.  They  dwell  in  burrows,  and  usu- 
ally live  in  communities  in  the  open,  fertile  valleys,  prefer- 
ring to  make  their  burrows  under  the  shade  of  an  oak-tree. 
Sometimes,  however,  single  spermophiles  will  be  found  living 
in  a  solitary  manner,  remote  from  their  fellows.  Their  bur- 
rows, like  those  of  the  prairie-dog,  are  often  used  by  the  rat- 


ZOOLOGY.  3S5 

tlesnake  and  the  little  owl.  Dr.  Newberry  says :  "  They  are 
very  timid,  starting  at  every  noise,  and  at  every  intrusion  into 
their  privacy,  dropping  from  the  trees,  or  hurrying  in  from 
their  wanderings,  and  scudding  to  their  holes  with  all  possi- 
ble celerity ;  arriving  at  the  entrance,  however,  they  stop  to 
reconnoitre,  standing  erect,  as  squirrels  rarely  and  spermo- 
philes  habitually  do,  and  looking  about  to  satisfy  them- 
selves of  the  nature  and  designs  of  the  intruder.  Should 
this  second  view  justify  their  flight,  or  a  motion  or  a  step  for- 
ward still  further  alarm  them,  with  a  peculiar  movement, 
like  that  of  a  diving  duck,  they  plunge  into  their  burrows, 
not  to  venture  out  till  all  cause  of  fear  is  past.  Should  you 
in  the  meantime  have  seated  yourself  with  your  back  against 
a  tree,  and  have  remained  for  a  time  as  immovable  as  the 
trunk  against  which  you  lean,  you  will  see  sundry  little  heads 
protruding  from  the  burrows,  with  as  many  pairs  of  eyes  and 
ears  skilled  to  detect  the  least  sign  of  danger  from  their 
equally-feared  enemies,  the  coyote,  the  Californian  vulture, 
the  red-shouldered  and  red-tailed  hawk,  and  man  himself.  If, 
however,  your  silence  and  quietness  persuade  them  that  you 
are  none  of  these,  they  will  swarm  forth  from  their  holes,  and 
at  first  timidly,  but,  gaining  confidence,  more  fearlessly,  en- 
gage in  all  the  sports  and  antics  for  which  the  sciuridoe  are 
noted,  and  in  which  none  excel  the  species  under  considera- 
tion. It  is  a  pretty  sight,  and  one  to  which  I  have  often 
treated  myself,  to  sit  down  quietly  under  these  old  oaks,  and 
watch  the  squirrels  running  about  over  the  grass  and  trees, 
gambolling  and  playing  together.  As  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach  through  the  vista,  the  sprightly  movements  of  these  in- 
nocent animals  could  be  discerned." 

The  two  species  are  called  Beechey's  spermophile  (Spermo- 
philus  beecheyi)  and  Douglas's  spermophile  (tSpermopinHttt 
douglasii).  The  size,  habits,  and  general  appearance  of  the 
two  species  are  the  same,  but  they  differ  in  the  color  of  a  stripe 
along  the  spine  from  the  base  of  the  head  to  the  middle  of  the 
25 


386  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

back  ;  in  Beechey's  spermophile  it  is  yellowish-hoary,  in  Doug- 
las's  it  is  dark-brown.  The  former  species  is  found  very  abun- 
dantly south  of  the  Straits  of  Carquinez ;  the  latter  north  of 
it,  and  fewer  in  number. 

Beeehey's  spermophiles  are  among  the  most  formidable  ene- 
mies of  the  farmer  in  those  districts  where  they  make  their 
homes.  They  increase  very  rapidly  in  the  vicinity  of  farms, 
and  do  great  damage  in  grain-fields  and  gardens ;  they  eat 
grain  and  garden  vegetables  in  all  stages  of  their  growth ; 
they  peel  young  fruit-trees  and  vines;  they  are,  in  short,  dan- 
gerous to  nearly  everything  that  is  cultivated.  They  are  very 
industrious,  and  lay  up  large  stores  for  the  winter,  spending 
several  hours  every  pleasant  summer's  day  in  gathering  food. 
They  go  considerable  distances  to  fields;  and  the  traveler, 
whose  approach  scares  them,  sees  them  in  hundreds  running 
across  the  road  before  him,  with  their  tails  erect,  hurrying 
from  the  field  to  hide  themselves  in  their  burrows.  Many  a 
large  wheat-field,  which  would  have  yielded  forty  bushels  to 
the  acre  if  there  had  been  no  spermophiles  to  trouble  it,  is  so 
despoiled  by  them,  that  the  crop  will  not  pay  for  harvesting. 
They  are  particularly  abundant  in  the  Santa  Clara,  Amador, 
and  Pajaro  Valleys ;  and  their  number  is  an  important  con- 
sideration  in  the  estimate  of  the  price  of  land.  They  will  not 
live  in  moist  land,  nor  very  near  the  ocean,  where  the  fogs 
prevail.  Away  from  cultivated  fields,  they  depend  for  food 
chiefly  upon  grass-seeds,  grass-roots,  and  acorns. 

§  307.  Gopher. — The  Californian  gopher  (Thomomys  bul- 
bivorus)  is,  next  to  Beechey's  spermophile,  the  most  abundant 
and  most  troublesome  rodent  of  the  State.  When  full  grown, 
it  has  a  body  six  or  eight  inches  long,  with  a  tail  of  two 
inches.  The  back  and  sides  are  of  a  chestnut-brown  color, 
paler  on  the  under  parts  of  the  body  and  legs ;  the  tail  and 
feet  are  grayish-white  ;  the  ears  are  very  short.  In  the  cheeks 
are  large  pouches,  covered  with  fur  inside,  white  to  their  mar- 
gin,  which  is  dark  brown. 


ZOOLOGY.  387 

The  gopher  inhabits  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  coast,  from 
latitude  34°  to  39°.  He  spends  nearly  all  his  time  under 
ground,  and  does  most  of  his  mischief  there,  gnawing  off 
the  roots  of  fruit  trees  and  garden  vegetables,  eating  newly- 
sown  grain  and  seeds,  and  nibbling  at  flowers  and  sweet  buds. 

The  Colorado  gopher  ( Thomomys  fulvus)  is  found  in  that 
portion  of  the  State  south  of  latitude  34°,  but  is  not  abundant. 
It  is  smaller  than  the  Californian  gopher,  and  has  more  of  a 
reddish  tinge  in  its  colors.  Its  habits  and  appearance  other- 
wise are  very  similar  to  those  of  its  northern  congener. 

The  broad-headed  gopher,  (Thomomys  laticeps)  found  in 
the  vicinity  of  Humboldt  Bay,  is  about  five  inches  long.  Its 
color  on  the  back,  sides,  and  belly,  is  yellowish-brown,  with  a 
reddish  tinge  between  the  fore  legs. 

§  308.  The  Rats. — California  has  a  number  of  indigenous 
kangaroo-rats  or  jumping-rats,  jumping-mice,  and  other  rats 
and  mice,  too  many  and  not  sufficiently  singular,  or  interest- 
ing to  the  general  reader,  to  deserve  a  complete  description 
here.  Among  these,  Philip's  jerboa,  in  the  Sacramento  Basin 
and  the  Southern  Valleys,  the  Don  jerboa,  in  the  Coast  Val- 
leys, south  of  San  Francisco,  each  twelve  inches  long,  from 
the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail,  are  the  largest  of  the  jumping- 
rats.  They  will  leap  four  or  five  times  their  length  at  every 
j  ump. 

The  Oregon  mole  (Scalops  townsendii)  is  found  near  the  bay 
of  San  Francisco,  and  perhaps  in  other  parts  of  the  State.  It 
is  six  or  seven  inches  long,  nearly  black  in  color,  with  faint- 
purplish  or  sooty-black  reflections  in  the  hair. 

§  309.  Deer. — The  American  elk  ( Cervus  canadensis)  is 
found  in  California,  as  well  as  in  many  other  parts  of  the  con- 
tinent. The  animal  is  nearly  as  large  as  a  horse,  and  has 
some  resemblance  to  it  in  general  shape,  though  smaller,  and 
slimmer  in  the  head,  neck,  and  legs.  Its  length  from  the  nose 
to  the  tail  is  seven  feet ;  its  height  five  feet ;  its  greatest  weight 
one  thousand  pounds.  The  color  is  a  chesnut  brown,  dark  on 


388  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  head,  neck,  and  legs,  lighter  and  yellowish  on  the  back 
and  sides.  The  horns  are  very  large,  sometimes  more  than 
four  feet  long,  three  feet  across  from  tip  to  tip,  measuring 
three  inches  in  diameter  above  the  burr,  and  weighing,  with 
the  skull,  exclusive  of  the  lower  jaw,  forty  pounds.  The 
horns  of  the  old  bucks  have  from  seven  to  nine,  perhaps  more, 
prongs,  all  growing  forward,  the  main  stem  running  upward 
and  backward.  The  elk  were  very  abundant  in  California 
previous  to  1849,  and  they  were  frequently  seen  in  large 
herds ;  but  within  the  last  ten  years  they  have  become  rare, 
and  before  the  close  of  another  decade  they  will  be  extinct  in 
our  State.  A  few  were  found  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  but 
the  best  place  for  hunting  them  is  in  Mendocino  County. 
Several  score  of  carcasses  find  their  way  every  year  to  the 
San  Francisco  market.  The  young  fat  elk  furnishes  a  very 
juicy  and  sweet  vension. 

The  white-tailed  Virginian  deer,  once  common  in  the  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  is  not  found  in  California,  but  in  its 
place  we  have  the  black-tailed  deer,  (Cervus  columbianus) 
which  is  a  little  larger  and  has  brighter  colors,  but  does  not 
furnish  as  good  vension,  the  meat  lacking  the  juiciness  and 
savory  taste  of  the  venison  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
average  weight  of  the  buck  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds,  and  of  the  doe  one  hundred  pounds,  but  bucks  have 
been  found  to  weigh  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds. 
The  summer-coat  of  the  black-tailed  deer  is  composed  of 
rather  long  and  coarse  hair,  of  a  tawny  brown,  approaching 
chestnut  on  the  back.  In  September  this  hair  begins  to  come 
off,  exposing  what  the  hunters  call  the  "  blue  coat,"  which  is 
at  first  fine  and  silky,  and  of  a  bluish-gray  color,  afterward 
becoming  chestnut  brown,  inclining  to -gray  on  the  sides,  and 
to  black  along  the  back.  Occasionally,  deer  purely  white  are 
found.  The  horn,  when  at  it  greatest  length,  is  about  two  feet 
long,  and  forks  near  mid-length,  and  each  prong  forks  again, 
making  four  points,  to  which  a  little  spur,  issuing  from  near 


ZOOLOGY.  389 

the  base  of  the  horn,  may  be  added,  making  five  in  all.  This 
is  the  general  form  of  the  hora ;  sometimes,  however,  old  bucks 
have  but  two  points. 

The  deer  likes  the  hills  and  the  timber ;  the  prong-horned 
antelope  (Antilocapra  arnericana)  loves  the  valley  and  the 
open  land.  Before  the  Americans  took  California,  the  Sacra- 
mento and  San  Joaquin  Valleys  abounded  with  herds  of  an- 
telope ;  but  now  they  are  rare  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State,  and  not  abundant  in  the  southern  part.  Many  are 
killed  yearly  for  the  market.  In  size  the  antelope  is  not  quite 
so  large  as  the  Californian  deer,  which  it  resembles  closely  in 
form  and  general  appearance.  They  are  distinguished  at  a 
distance  by  their  motioa  :  the  antelope  canters,  while  the  deer 
runs ;  the  antelope  go  in  herds,  and  move  in  a  line  following 
the  lead  of  an  old  buck,  like  sheep,  to  which  they  are  related ; 
while  deer  more  frequently  are  alone,  and  if  in  a  herd  they 
are  more  independent,  and  move  each  in  the  way  that  suits 
him  best.  In  color,  the  back,  upper  part  of  the  sides  and  out- 
side of  the  thighs  and  forelegs,  are  yellowish  brown  ;  the  under 
parts,  lower  part  of  the  sides,  and  the  buttocks  as  seen  from 
behind,  are  white.  The  hair  is  very  coarse,  thick,  spongy, 
tubular,  slightly  crimped,  or  waved,  and  like  short  lengths  of 
coarse  threads  cut  off  bluntly.  The  horns  are  very  irregular 
in  size  and  form,  but  usually  they  are  about  eight  inches  long, 
rise  almost  perpendicularly,  have  a  short,  blunt  prong  in.  front, 
several  inches  from  the  base,  and  make  a  short  backward 
crook  at  the  top.  The  female  has  horns  as  well  as  the  male. 
The  hoof  is  heart-shaped,  and  its  print  upon  the  ground  may 
be  readily  distinguished  from  the  long,  narrow  track  of  the 
deer.  The  antelope  is  about  two  feet  and  a  half  high,  and 
four  feet  long  from  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail. 

The  mountain  sheep  (Ovis  montana)  is  found  on  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  from  the  Tejon  Pass  to  the  Oregon  line,  but  is  a 
rare  and  very  shy  animal,  and  is  seldom  killed.  Its  length  is 
about  five  feet,  and  its  weight  sometimes  three  hundred  and 


390  KESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

fifty  pounds,  considerably  greater  than  that  of  the  deer  or  do- 
mesticated sheep.  The  color  is  white  beneath,  grayish  brown 
elsewhere.  The  horns  of  the  ram  are  very  large,  sometimes 
five  inches  through  at  the  base  and  three  feet  long.  The 
horns,  after  starting  upward,  turn  backward,  then  downward, 
and  so  round  with  a  circular  or  spiral  shape,  the  tip  inclining 
outward.  Mountaineers  assert  that  these  horns  are  used  by 
the  sheep  in  getting  down  from  the  high  cliff's  which  he  is 
fond  of  frequenting.  Instead  of  clambering  down  toilsomely 
over  the  rugged  and  broken  rocks,  he  makes  an  easy  job  of  it 
by  leaping  headlong,  confidently  down,  over  precipices  fifty, 
yes,  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  alights  head  first  on  his  horns, 
which  are  strong  enough  to  be  unbroken  by  the  shock,  and 
elastic  enough  to  throw  him  ten  or  fifteen  feet  into  the  air — 
and  the  next  time  he  alights  on  his  feet  all  right. 

§  310.  Hare. — The  Californian  hare,  or  "  jackass  rabbit,'* 
as  it  is  commonly  called,  (Lepus  califotmicMs)  is  one  of  the 
largest  of  its  class,  growing  sometimes  to  be  two  feet  long 
from  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail.  Its  ears  are  very  large, 
and  have  suggested  the  vulgar  name.  It  was  once  abundant 
in  all  the  valleys  from  the  Klamath  to  the  Colorado ;  it  is  more 
rare  now.  The  color  beneath  is  a  pale  cinnamon ;  above  it  is 
mixed  black  and  light  cinnamon,  the  longest  hairs  being  of  a 
light  smoky-ash  color  for  about  half  the  length,  then  dark 
sooty-brown,  then  pale  cinnamon-red,  and  finally  black  at  the 
tip. 

The  prairie  hare  (Lepus  campestrus)  also,  one  of  the  largest 
hares,  inhabits  the  plateau  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  Pit  River 
Valley,  and  the  country  about  the  Klamath  lakes.  It  is  all 
white  in  winter ;  in  summer  yellowish  gray,  with  brownish 
tinges  above  and  white  beneath.  The  length,  from  the  tip  of 
the  nose  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  is  from  seventeen  to  twenty- 
three  inches  ;  and  the  tail  and  ear  each  measure  about  four 
inches. 


ZOOLOGY.  391 

Audubon's  hare  (Lepus  audubonii)  inhabits  the  coast  val- 
leys from  Petaluma  to  San  Diego.  It  is  fifteen  inches  long, 
with  a  tail  measuring  to  the  end  of  the  hairs  on  it  three 
inches.  The  color  is  mixed  yellowish-brown  and  black  above, 
white  beneath,  thighs  and  rump  grayish. 

Trowbridge's  hare  (Lepits  trowbridgii)  is  found  along  the 
coast  southward  from  39°.  The  length  is  from  eleven  to  fif- 
teen inches ;  the  tail,  with  hair  and  all,  less  than  an  inch. 
The  back  is  yellowish  brown  mixed  with  dark  brown,  paler  on 
the  sides,  and  ash-colored  beneath. 

The  sage  rabbit  (Lepus  artemisia)  is  found  in  all  the  open 
parts  of  California  north  of  the  Straits  of  Carquinez.  It  is 
from  eleven  to  sixteen  inches  in  length;  in  color, brown  above 
and  white  beneath,  with  a  yellowish  tinge,  the  under  part  of 
the  neck  a  yellowish  brown.  The  fur  on  all  parts  of  the  body 
is  lead-colored  at  the  base. 

§  311.  Sea-Lions. — The  sea-lions,  of  the  Otaria  genus,  fre- 
quent the  coast  from  May  to  November,  making  their  homes 
during  the  winter  in  some  other  clime,  but  where  is  not 
known.  They  delight  to  collect  on  clear  summer  days  on  rocks 
near  the  water's  edge,  and  bask  in  the  sun.  They  may  be 
seen  nearly  every  day  on  the  rocks  near  the  Golden  Gate,  and 
heard,  too,  for  they  keep  up  a  kind  of  barking  or  growling  in 
chorus,  which  grows  louder  as  they  see  any  one  approaching. 
They  do  not  wait,  however,  to  let  a  man  come  very  near,  but 
pitch  off  into  the  sea  before  he  is  within  fifty  yards  of  them. 
Their  color  varies  from  light  yellowish-brown  to  dark  brown 
and  dark  iron-gray.  They  have  no  mane  like  that  of  their 
relatives  in  higher  latitudes.  Fish  and  birds  are  their  diet, 
and  both  are  caught  with  great  activity  and  some  stratagem. 
When  a  sea-lion  sees  a  gull  swimming,  he  will  dive  and  try 
to  come  up  under  the  bird,  which  he  at  once  seizes ;  or  if  the 
bird  is  hovering  over  the  water,  the  sea-lion  will  dive,  and 
come  up  near  the  place,  but  keep  under  the  water,  the  sur- 
face of  which  he  breaks,  as  if  a  fish  were  there,  and  when 


392  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  gull  comes  down  to  make  a  catch  he  is  himself  caught. 
The  sea-lion  grows  to  be  nine  feet  long. 

Sea  elephants  are  found  occasionally  on  the  coast  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  on  a  few  islands,  and  not  elsewhere  north  of  the 
equator.  They  are  killed  for  their  oil,  each  full-grown  animal 
yielding  from  90  to  180  gallons.  They  shed  their  coat  every 
year,  and  then  suddenly  change  their  color  from  a  yellowish 
brown  to  a  dark  gray,  which  continues  for  four  or  five  months, 
and  then  alters  gradually.  The  animal  sometimes  reaches  a 
length  of  eighteen  feet. 

§  312.  Otter,  etc. — The  American  beavers  (Castor  canaden- 
sis)  were  once  very  abundant  in  all  the  large  streams  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  it  was  chiefly  for  their  sakes  that  the  first  American 
trappers  entered  the  country,  about  1827.  They  are  still  found 
in  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  Rivers.  They  rarely 
build  dams  in  California,  but  live  in  burrows  in  the  banks. 
When  they  dive  they  slap  the  water  with  their  tails,  making 
a  noise  that  can  be  heard  at  a  considerable  distance  on  a  still 
night.  Their  skins,  which  once  commanded  very  high  prices, 
have  lost  much  of  their  value  since  the  adoption  of  silk  for 
making  hats. 

The  common  mink  (Putorius  vison)  is  found  in  California, 
but  is  not  abundant.  The  general  color  of  the  animal  is 
dark  brownish-chestnut, 'with  a  white  spot  on  the  end  of  the 
chin.  The  skin  of  the  mink  is  as  valuable  as  that  of  the 
beaver. 

The  Californian  otter  {Lutra  califbmica)  is  found  all  along 
this  coast,  and  was  formerly  abundant  on  all  the  large  streams. 
It  is  carnivorous,  living  entirely  on  fish  and  shell-fish.  It  pre- 
fers large  streams  and  lakes  for  its  home,  while  the  plant-eat- 
ing beaver  prefers  small  streams.  The  Califoruian  otter  is 
sometimes  five  feet  long  from  the  point  of  the  nose  to  the  tip 
of  the  tail.  When  in  the  water,  its  hair  is  at  times  beautiful- 
ly iridescent. 

The  sea-otter  (Enhydra  marina)  is  larger  than  the  Califor- 


ZOOLOGY.  393 

nian  otter,  and  is  also  carnivorous.  It  generally  makes  its 
home  near  islands,  and  roams  about  in  the  water  within  ten 
or  twenty  miles  of  land.  The  sea-otter  was  at  one  time  very 
abundant  along  the  coast  of  California,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
attractions  which  induced  the  Russian  Fur  Company  to  estab- 
lish a  post  at  Fort  Ross,  in  latitude  38°  30' ,  where  a  number 
of  Aleutian  Indians  were  employed,  from  1812  to  1840,  in  the 
otter  fishery.  They  would  start  out  in  their  little  single  ca- 
noes, made  water-proof  with  a  covering  of  fish-bladders,  so 
that  there  was  no  danger  of  their  sinking  if  the  sea  should 
sweep  over  them,  and  thus  they  would  go  out  fifty  miles  to 
sea,  and  travel  up  and  down  the  coast,  usually  coming  home 
well-laden  with  sea-otter  skins,  worth  sixty  or  eighty  dollars 
each.  The  sea-otter  is  still  abundant  on  the  southern  coast, 
and  there  are  men  in  Santa  Barbara  County  who  make  it  a 
business  to  hunt  them. 

"  The  otter,"  says  Mr.  W.  A.  Wallace,  "  is  very  harmless, 
and  always  seeks  to  escape  from  human  observation.  When 
attacked  they  make  no  resistance,  but  endeavor  to  escape  by 
sinking  in  the  sea.  If  closely  pursued  and  there  is  no  escape, 
they  scold  and  grin  like  an  angry  cat.  If  they  escape  the  ene- 
my, as  soon  as  they  are  safe,  they  turn  and  deride  him  with 
various  diverting  tricks,  such  as  standing  on  end  in  the  water, 
jumping  over  the  waves,  holding  the  paws  over  the  eyes,  as 
if  to  shade  them  from  the  sun  while  looking  at  the- enemy — 
then  lying  fiat  upon  the  back  and  stroking  the  belly.  In  their 
escape  they  carry  their  sucklings  in  their  mouths,  and  drive 
before  them  those  not  fully  grown.  They  were  formerly 
taken  by  the  Russians  and  Indians,  by  means  of  nets,  clubs, 
and  spears.  The  young  are  said  to  be  delicate  eating,  the 
flesh  resembling  lamb.  The  flesh  of  the  old  ones  is  insipid 
and  tough. 

"  The  otter  is  never  seen  upon  land.  He  is  purely  an 
aquatic  animal.  When  he  swims  he  turns  upon  his  back, 
and  propels  himself  with  great  rapidity.  The  fore-paws  are 


394  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

rounded  like  a  cat's,  but  the  claws  of  the  older  ones  are  gen- 
erally worn  off.  The  hind-legs,  or  propellers,  are  broad  and 
flat,  like  paddles,  and  are  used  very  dexterously.  The  seal 
much  resembles  the  otter,  seen  at  a  distance,  but  he  swims 
upon  his  belly,  and  the  hunter  seldom  mistakes  one  for  the 
other.  The  otter  sleeps  in  the  water,  lying  upon  his  back, 
and  anchors  himself  from  the  motions  of  winds  and  waves  by 
drawing  a  string  of  kelp  across  his  breast,  just  below  his 
fore-legs.  When  discovered  in  this  position,  they  are  often 
approached  very  near  by  the  hunters.  They  are  very  buoy- 
ant in  the  water,  but  when  the  chase  has  been  long  continued, 
and  the  blood  of  the  otter  becomes  heated  by  the  exercise,  on 
being  shot  the  body  sinks  rapidly  to  the  bottom,  and  never 
rises.  More  than  half  the  otters  shot  are  lost  in  this  way. 

"  Once  a  day  the  otter  comes  near  the  shore  for  food.  He 
eats  every  thing  that  grows  in  salt  water,  and  is  particularly 
fond  of  abelones,  (hcdiotus)  mussels,  and  sea-eggs.  At  high 
water  the  abelone  loosens  its  shell  from  the  rock,  to  receive 
the  nourishment  which  the  overflowing  waters  bring  to  it,  and 
it  is  then  easily  taken  from  the  rock  and  removed  from  its 
shell.  The  otter  is  well  acquainted  with  all  the  peculiarities 
of  this  mollusk,  and  takes  this  opportunity  to  capture  it  for 
food." 

The  common  seal,  a  species  of  phoca,  is  abundant  along  the 
coast. 

§  313.  Vultures. — The  Californian  vulture,  (  Cathartes  call- 
fornianus)  sometimes  improperly  called  "  condor,"  the  largest 
bird  on  the  continent,  and  next  to  the  condor  the  largest  fly- 
ing bird  in  the  world,  inhabits  all  parts  of  the  State,  though 
it  is  not  abundant  in  any  place.  It  is  as  prominent  and  pecu- 
liar a  feature  of  the  birds  of  California,  as  the  grizzly  bear 
among  the  quadrupeds.  It  is  very  shy,  and  is  rarely  killed. 
The  total  length  of  the  Californian  vulture  is  about  four  feet, 
and  its  width  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  outstretched  wings,  ten 
feet  or  more.  Its  color  is  brownish  black,  with  a  white  stripe 


ZOOLOGY.  395 

across  the  wings.  The  head  and  neck  are  bare,  and  red  and 
yellow  in  color.  The  bill  is  yellowish  white,  and  the  iris  car- 
mine. Dr.  Newberry  says  :  "A  portion  of  every  day's  ex- 
perience in  our  march  through  the  Sacramento  Valley,  was  a 
pleasure  in  watching  the  graceful  evolutions  of  this  splendid 
bird.  Its  flight  is  easy  and  effortless,  almost  beyond  that  of 
any  other  bird.  As  I  sometimes  recall  the  characteristic 
scenery  of  California,  those  interminable  stretches  of  waving 
grain,  with  here  and  there,  between  the  rounded  hills,  orchard- 
like  clumps  of  oak,  a  scene  so  solitary  and  yet  so  home-like, 
over  these  oat-covered  plains  and  slopes,  golden  yellow  in  the 
sunshine,  always  floats  the  shadow  of  the  vulture." 

Dr.  Heermann,  of  the  United  States  Pacific  Railroad  Sur- 
vey, wrote  thus :  "  Whilst  unsuccessfully  hunting  in  the 
Tejon  Valley,  we  have  often  passed  several  hours  without  a 
single  one  of  this  species  being  in  sight,  but  on  bringing  down 
any  large  game,  ere  the  body  had  grown  cold,  these  birds 
might  be  seen  rising  above  the  horizon  and  slowly  sweeping 
towards  us,  intent  upon  their  share  of  the  prey.  Nor  in  the 
absence  of  the  hunter  will  his  game  be  exempt  from  their  rav- 
enous appetite,  though  it  be  carefully  hidden  and  covered  by 
shrubbery  and  heavy  branches ;  as  I  have  known  these  marau- 
ders to  drag  forth  from  its  concealment  and  devour  a  deer 
within  an  hour.  Any  article  of  clothing  thrown  over  a  car- 
cass will  shield  it  from  a  vulture,  though  not  from  a  grizzly 
bear,  who  little  respects  such  flimsy  protection.  My  coat, 
used  on  one  occasion  to  cover  a  deer,  was  found  on  our  return 
torn  by  bruin  to  shreds,  and  the  game  destroyed.  The  Cali- 
fornian  vulture  joins  to  his  rapacity  an  immense  muscular 
power,  as  a  sample  of  which  it  will  suflice  to  state  that  I  have 
known  four  of  them,  jointly,  to  drag  off,  over  a  space  of  two 
hundred  yards,  the  body  of  a  young  grizzly  bear  weighing  up- 
ward of  one  hundred  pounds." 

The  turkey-buzzard,  or  turkey-vulture,  (Cathartes  aura) 
specifically  the  same  with  the  bird  known  by  that  name  in 


396  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  Atlantic  States,  is  found  in  all  parts  of  California.  From 
the  tip  of  the  bill  to  the  end  of  the  tail  it  is  about  thirty 
inches  long,  and  six  feet  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  outstretched 
wings.  The  head  and  neck  are  bare,  covered  with  a  bright- 
red  wrinkled  skin.  The  plumage  commences  below  that,  with 
a  circular  ruff  of  projecting  feathers.  The  color  of  the  plum- 
age is  black,  with  a  purplish  lustre,  many  of  the  feathers  hav- 
ing a  pale  border.  The  bill  is  yellowish  in  color. 

§  314.  Eagles. — The  golden  eagle  (Aquila  canadensis)  in- 
habits California,  and  indeed  all  parts  of  North  America.  Its 
length  is  thirty  or  forty  inches ;  its  color  on  the  head  and  neck 
is  yellowish  brown,  white  at  the  base  of  the  tail,  and  brown, 
varying  to  purplish  brown  and  black,  elsewhere. 

The  bald  eagle  (Halioetus  leucocephalos)  was  abundant  in 
California  ten  years  ago,  and  is  still  often  seen  along  the  Sac- 
ramento, San  Joaquin,  and  Klamath  Rivers.  It  frequents  rap- 
ids for  the  purpose  of  catching  fish,  which  seem  to  furnish  the 
larger  part  of  its  food.  It  is  from  thirty  to  forty  inches  long, 
white  on  the  head,  and  at  the  base  of  the  tail,  and  brownish 
black  on  the  breast,  wings,  and  back. 

The  fish-hawk  (Pandion  carolinensis)  is  found  along  all  our 
large  rivers.  It  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  inches  long.  The 
head  and  under  parts  are  white,  with  pale  yellowish-brown  spots 
on  the  breast,  the  back,  wings,  and  tail  are  dark  brown. 

The  goshawk  (Astur  atricapillus)  is  of  the  same  size  with 
the  fish-hawk,  and  in  color  is  dark — a  bluish  slate  above,  and 
mottled-white  and  light  ashy-brown  beneath. 

There  are  seventeen  other  hawks  in  the  State,  most  of  them 
small  and  rare. 

§  315.  Owls. — California  has  nine  species  of  owls,  namely  : 
the  barn,  great-horned,  screech,  long-eared,  short-eared,  great 
gray,  saw-whet,  burrowing,  and  pigmy  owls.  All  of  them  are 
found  extensively  on  the  continent,  beyond  the  limits  of  our 
State,  and  all  save  the  last  two  are  common  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 


ZOOLOGY.  397 

The  burrowing  owl  (Athene  cunicularia)  is  ten  inches  long, 
ashy-brown  above  and  whitish -brown  beneath,  variegated  by 
spots  and  bands  of  white  and  dark-brown.  Dr.  Newberry 
says :  "  The  burrowing  owl  is  found  in  many  parts  of  Califor- 
nia, where  it  shares  the  burrows  of  Beechey's  and  Douglas's 
spermophiles.  We  usually  saw  them  standing  at  the  entrance 
of  their  burrows.  They  often  allowed  us  to  approach  within 
shot,  and,  before  taking  flight,  twisting  their  heads  about, 
bowed  with  many  ludicrous  gestures,  thus  apparently  aiding 
their  imperfect  sight,  and  getting  a  better  view  of  the  intruder. 
When  shot  at  and  not  killed,  or  when  otherwise  alarmed,  they 
fly  with  an  irregular  jerking  motion,  dropping  down  much  like 
a  woodcock  at  some  other  hole." 

The  pigmy  owl  ( Glaucidium  gnoma)  is  seven  inches  long, 
and  inhabits  the  wooded  districts.  It  flies  about  actively  in  the 
daytime,  and  appears  to  subsist  chiefly  on  sparrows,  which  it 
catches  in  daylight.  The  general  color  is  brownish-olive  above 
and  brownish-white  beneath. 

§  316.  Eoa d-runner^ The  paisano,  or  road-runner,  (Geo- 
coccyx .  calif ornianus)  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  birds  in 
the  State.  It  lives  almost  entirely  upon  the  ground,  very 
rarely  flies,  and  frequents  the  highways,  along  which  it  will 
run  from  any  one  approaching.  Its  speed  is  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  a  common  horse,  and  it  often  furnishes  an  exciting 
chase  to  the  solitary  rider.  It  is  found  only  in  the  valleys  and 
low  hills,  and  makes  its  home  among  the  bushes.  The  bird  is 
akin  to  the  cuckoo,  and  its  generic  name  signifies  "  ground- 
cuckoo."  Its  length  is  from  twenty  to  twenty -three  inches, 
of  which  twelve  are  taken  up  by  the  tail.  The  color  is  olive- 
green  above  and  white  beneath ;  the  central  tail  feathers  are 
olive-brown,  the  others  dark-green — all  edged  and  (except 
the  central  two)  tipped  with  white.  Dr.  Heermann  says  :  "  I 
have  not  witnessed  the  following  feat,  but  am  assured  by 
many  old  Californians  that  this  bird,  on  perceiving  the  rattle- 
snake coiled  up  asleep,  basking  in  the  sun,  will  collect  the 


398  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

cactus  and  hedge  him  around  with  a  circle,  out  of  which  the 
reptile,  unable  to  escape,  and  enraged  by  the  prickly  points 
opposing  him  on  every  side,  strikes  himself,  and  dies  from  the 
effects  of  his  self-inoculated  venom."  The  Los  Angeles  Star, 
in  one  of  its  numbers  published  in  February,  1871,  says  the 
paisano  will  attack  the  snake  when  awake,  and  if  it  fails  to 
kill  him  at  the  first  stroke  of  the  beak,  will  surround  him  with 
the  cactus  leaves,  while  the  rattler  remains  coiled  up,  ready 
for  another  attack.  After  the  thorny  fence  is  completed,  the 
bird  again  strikes  the  reptile  till  it  is  dead.  One  snake  thus 
killed  was  four  feet  long. 

§  317.  Woodpeckers. — There  are  eleven  species  of  wood- 
pecker in  the  State,  and  two  of  them,  the  Californian  (Melan- 
erpes  formicivorus)  and  Lewis's  (Melanerpes  torquatus)  are- 
worthy  of  special  mention. 

The  Californian  woodpecker  is  called  by  the  Spanish  Cali- 
fornians  the  carpintero,  or  carpenter,  because  he  is  in  the  habit 
of  boring  holes  with  his  beak  in  the  bark  of  the  nut-pine,  red- 
wood, Californian  white  oak,  and  Western  yellow  pine,  and 
then  storing  acorns  in  them  for  his  winter  use.  The  holes  are 
just  large  and  deep  enough  to  hold  each  an  acorn,  which  is 
hammered  in  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  its  falling  out.  The 
acorns  on  the  northern  side  of  the  tree,  where  they  are  pro- 
tected from  the  rains,  which  come  from  the  southward,  often 
keep  good  for  years.  The  bark  of  the  nut-pine  is  preferred, 
probably  being  softer  and  more  regular  in  grain  than  any 
other  bark.  The  holes  are  bored  to  within  two  or  three  feet 
of  the  ground,  and  to  a  height  of  fifty  feet — sometimes,  but 
rarely,  in  the  limbs  as  well  as  the  trunk.  From  thirty  to  fifty 
holes  are  often  found  in  a  square  foot.  In  seasons  when 
or  places  where  acorns  are  rare,  the  woodpecker  will  put 
away  hazel-nuts  in  the  same  manner.  The  squirrels  often 
plunder  the  stores,  and  then  the  birds  attack  the  thieves,  dart- 
ing down  upon  them  and  pecking  them  with  their  beaks. 
When  the  squirrel  sees  the  property-owner  coming,  he  hurries 


ZOOLOGY.  399 

to  a  hole,  or  gets  under  a  limb,  where  the  woodpecker  cannot 
conveniently  strike  him.  Sometimes  Indians  and  even  white 
men  are  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  woodpecker's  stores 
as  a  protection  against  starvation. 

The  length  of  the  bird  is  nine  inches ;  the  anterior  part  of 
the  body  above  and  the  tail  are  black ;  the  belly,  rump,  a 
patch  on  the  forehead,  and  a  collar  on  the  neck,  white  ;  and  the 
crown,  and  a  short  occipital  crest,  red.  Dr.  Newberry  says : 
"  This  beautiful  bird,  the  rival  and  representative  of  the  red- 
headed  woodpecker,  [of  the  Atlantic  slope  of  the  Continent] 
is  an  inseparable  element  of  the  scenery  of  the  Sacramento 
Valley.  While  we  were  encamped  under  the  wide-spreading 
oaks  of  that  region,  I  had  a  very  good  opportunity  to  study 
their  habits,  as  they  would  come  into  the  trees  in  the  shade  of 
which  I  was  lying.  They  are  not  shy,  and  frequently  came 
round  in  considerable  numbers.  Their  manners  are  the  very 
counterpart  of  the  Eastern  '  red-head,'  and  their  rattling  cry 
is  not  unlike  his.  Like  the  '  red-head,'  I  have  seen  two  or 
three  of  them  amuse  themselves  by  playing  '  hide  and  seek ' 
around  some  trunk  or  branch  ;  and  like  the  '  red-head,'  too, 
they  delight  to  sit  on  the  end  of  a  dry  limb,  and  fly  off  in 
circles  for  the  insects  which  come  near  them." 

Lewis's  woodpecker  is  in  color  dark  glossy  green  above  and 
gray  beneath,  with  dark-crimson  patches  on  the  sides  of  the 
head  and  belly.  The  feathers  on  the  under  part  are  bristle- 
like.  It  prefers  an  elevated  home,  and  is  found  ten  or  twelve 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 

§  318.  Humming -Birds. — There  are  four  humming-birds 
in  California,  all  different  from  those  found  in  the  Atlantic 
States.  The  white-throated  swift,  a  bird  resembling  the  swal- 
low, but  smaller,  is  common  in  the  Colorado  Basin.  We  have 
a  whip-poor-will,  different  from  the  one  known  in  the  Eastern 
States.  Two  night-hawks  are  found  in  our  State,  one  of  them 
appearing  on  this  slope  of  the  continent  only  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Colorado,  and  on  the  other  slope  not  extending  far  beyond 


400  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

the  Rio  Grande.  The  belted  king-fisher  (  Ceryle  alcyori)  is  at 
home  in  California,  as  well  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  conti- 
nent. 

§  3 1 9.  Fly-catchers. — The  family  of  fly-catchers,  ( Colopteri- 
doe)  which  connects  the  non-melodious  with  the  true  singing 
birds,  is  represented  in  California  by  eleven  species,  most  of 
which  are  not  seen  in  the  Atlantic  States.  They  are  small 
birds,  from  five  to  nine  inches  in  length,  and  their  colors  are 
usually  dull.  Most  of  them  have  their  upper  mandible  bent 
down  abruptly  at  the  tip  ;  and  they  always  have  twelve  feath- 
ers in  the  tail.  One  of  the  most  common  and  the  best-known 
of  the  fly-catchers  is  the  bird  called  the  "  pewee." 

§  320.  Singers. — The  zoological  sub-order  called  Oscines, 
or  singers,  has  one  hundred  and  nine  species  in  our  State,  in- 
cluding two  mocking-birds,  three  thrushes^  two  blue-birds, 
three  robins,  three  larks,  five  black-birds,  eleven  finches,  six 
wrens,  six  swallows,  six  warblers,  one  martin,  one  bunting,  six 
titmouses,  one  snow-bird,  two  grosbeaks,  one  cow-bird,  one 
oriole,  one  crow,  three  ravens,  three  jays,  one  water-ouzel,  two 
magpies,  and  so  on.  Some  of  these  birds  are  not  called  "  sing- 
ers "  in  common  language,  but  they  all  belong  to  the  Oscines 
sub-order,  which  is  marked  by  a  peculiar  muscular  apparatus 
for  singing,  composed  of  five  pairs  of  muscles  in  the  throat. 
Though  there  are  many  species  of  Oscines  in  the  State,  yet  the 
birds  are  not  so  numerous,  so  melodious,  nor  are  they  heard  so 
often,  as  the  feathered  songsters  in  the  Eastern  States.  The 
traveler  may  proceed  for  days  in  the  Sacramento  Basin,  during 
the  summer  season,  without  hearing  more  than  a  few  chirps. 
Our  singing-birds  have  been  multiplying  very  rapidly  of  late, 
because  of  the  settlement  and  cultivation  of  the  land,  whereby 
their  supply  of  wholesome  and  palatable  food  is  much  in- 
creased,  and  their  enemies  the  hawks  are  driven  away.  Most 
of  our  swallows,  one  mocking-bird,  one  black-bird,  and  one 
raven,  found  in  California,  are  also  seen  east  of  the  Mississippi ; 
but  all  our  jays,  robins,  blue- birds,  and  magpies,  and  our  ori- 


ZOOLOGY.  401 

ole,  are  of  species  not  found  in  the  Atlantic  States.  The 
majority  of  the  Oscines  indigenous  on  this  Coast  are  unknown 
in  the  older  States.  Our  mocking-birds  are  never  domesti- 
cated, and  are  not  to  be  compared  to  the  mocking-bird  of 
Virginia. 

§  321.  Soratchers. — The  ornithological  order  of  Rasores,  or 
scratch ers,  is  represented  in  California  by  eleven  species, 
namely  :  one  pigeon,  two  doves,  three  grouse,  two  quails,  one 
partridge,  and  one  sand-hill  crane.  The  pigeon,  partridge, 
grouse,  quails,  and  one  of  the  doves,  are  specifically  different 
from  the  birds  known  by  the  same  name  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  wild-turkey  is  not  indigenous  in  our  State. 

The  most  abundant  and  prominent  of  our  scratchers,  the 
Californian  quarl,  (Lophortyx  californicus)  is  found  in  all  the 
valleys  of  California  and  Oregon.  Its  breast  and  upper  parts 
are  lead-colored,  with  an  olive-brown  gloss  on  the  back  and 
wings  ;  the  chin  and  throat  are  black,  with  a  white  line  run- 
ning backward  from  the  eye ;  the  forehead  is  brownish-yellow  ; 
the  belly  is  pale  buff,  with  an  orange-brown  round  spot  in  the 
middle,  changing  to  white  at  the  sides ;  the  feathers  on  the 
back  and  sides  have  a  central  streak  of  white,  and  those  on 
the  top  and  slides  of  the  neck  have  black  edgings.  The  head 
bears  a  erest  numbering  from  three  to  six  feathers,  usually 
five,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  long.  The  shafts  are  bare,  very 
slender,  and,  though  all  are  in  a  straight  line  on  the  longitu- 
dinal medial  line  of  the  head,  they  are  so  near  together  as  to 
look  like  but  one  shaft,  more  especially  as  the  fine,  fur-like 
bushes  at  their  tops  all  combine  to  form  a  compact  little  plume. 
These  feathers  are  usually  erect,  the  plume  leaning  forward 
when  the  bird  is  trying  to  look  its  best  in  the  presence  of 
company;  but  when  running  about  in  the  grass,  and  not 
thinking  of  its  appearance,  the  crest  is  lowered,  falling  for- 
ward over  the  bill. 

The  Californian  quail  has  two  notes — the  song  and  the  call. 
The  song  of  the  Atlantic  quail  is  in  two  notes — the  well-knowa 
26 


402  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

whistle,  sounding  like  "  Bob  White."  The  song  of  the  Cali- 
fornian  quail  has  but  one  note,  beginning  like  the  "  Bob,1'  and 
ending  like  the"  White  "  of  its  Eastern  relative.  The  calls  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  quails  are  nearly  alike,  and  may  be 
represented  by  the  syllables  "  hi-re-he."  "  As  a  game-bird," 
says  Dr.  Newberry,  "  the  Californian  quail  is  inferior  to  the 
Eastern  one,  though  perhaps  of  equal  excellence  for  the  table. 
It  does  not  lie  as  well  to  the  dog,  and  does  not  afford  a  good 
sport.  It  also  takes  a  tree  more  readily  than  the  Atlantic 
quail.  Like  its  Eastern  relative,  the  cock-bird  is  very  fond  of 
sitting  on  some  stump  or  log  projecting  above  the  grass  and 
weeds  which  conceal  his  mate  and  nest  or  brood,  and  especially 
in  the  early  morning,  uttering  his  peculiar  cry." 

The  plumed  quail,  (Oreortyx  pictus)  likewise  called  the 
"  mountain  quail,"  while  the  Lophortyx  californicus  is  often 
styled  the  "  valley  quail,"  is  peculiar  to  this  Coast,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  features  of  its  ornithology.  It  is  a  par- 
tridge, ten  inches  long,  very  plump  in  shape,  handsome  in 
color,  majestic  in  its  bearing,  and  graceful  in  motion.  Its  head 
is  surmounted  by  a  crest  of  two  straight  feathers,  three  and  a 
half  inches  long,  which  hang  backward,  one  immediately  over 
the  other.  The  breast  and  neck  are  lead-colored,  the  upper 
parts  generally  olive  brown ;  the  throat  and  head,  beneath  the 
eyes,  orange-chestnut ;  the  abdomen  white.  There  are  numer- 
ous variegations  of  white,  black,  and  minor  shades,  on  the 
plumage,  all  contributing  to  heighten  its  beauty. 

The  mountain  partridge  lives  in  the  hills  and  mountains, 
from  the  Tejon  Pass  to  the  Columbia  River.  Its  song  sug- 
gests the  sound  represented  by  the  word  "  whoit,"  whistled 
fuller  and  louder  than  the  song  of  the  Californian  quail.  It 
roosts  upon  the  ground  ;  and  if  bushes  be  near,  in*  which  to 
hide,  it  will  rather  run  than  fly  from  its  enemies.  It  seldom 
flies  more  than  two  hundred  yards  at  a  time.  The  cock  is 
equally  attentive  with  the  hen  to  the  young  brood,  which  usu- 
.ally  varies  from  eight  to  twelve  in  number.  The  families  seem 


ZOOLOGY.  403 

to  be  much  attached  to  each  other,  and  if  they  are  scattered, 
they  are  very  uneasy  until  all  are  collected  again.  In  such 
cases  the  hunter  can  entice  them  to  come  to  him  by  imitating 
the  call  of  either  old  or  young.  They  are  easily  domesticated 
— more  readily  than  their  brethren  of  the  valley.  The  mountain 
partridge  hates  the  quail,  and  when  brought  into  its  presence 
always  attacks  it ;  the  smaller  bird  makes  no  resistance. 

GambePs  quail  (Lorphortyx  gambdli)  is  a  bird  differing 
from  the  Californian  quail  only  in  having  duller  colors,  and 
is  perhaps  specifically  the  same,  the  difference  in  color  being  a 
mere  accident  of  climate.  Occasionally  white  quails,  very 
similar  in  form  and  size  to  the  Lophortyx  califomicus,  are 
found  near  Humboldt  Bay. 

The  sage-cock,  or  cock  of  the  plains,  (  Centrocercus  eropha- 
sianus)  the  largest  of  the  American  grouse,  often  weighing 
five  or  six  pounds,  inhabits  the  dry  plains  in  the  vicinity  of 
Pit  River.  It  is  sometimes  twenty-nine  inches  long  and  forty- 
two  inches  across  from  tip  to  tip  of  outstretched  wings.  Its 
color  above  is  variegated  with  black,  brown,  brownish-yellow, 
and  whitish-yellow ;  its  breast  is  white,  its  belly  black.  The 
male  has  bare,  flame-colored  patches  of  skin  on  the  neck, 
which  are  ordinarily  hidden  by  the  feathers,  but  which  are 
plainly  visible  when  he  struts  about  before  the  hen,  with  his 
neck  puffed  out  like  a  pouter-pigeon's. 

The  sharp-tailed  grouse  (Pedioccetes phasianettm)  is  also  found 
in  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  State.  It  is  eighteen  inches 
long,  light  brownish-yellow  above,  varied  with  black,  and 
white  beneath,  the  feathers  on  the  breast  and  sides  having 
brown  marks  shaped  like  a  V.  The  tail  is  long  and  sharp,  the 
central  feathers  and  the  others  growing  gradually  shorter  as 
they  approach  the  sides ;  there  are  eighteen  feathers  in  the 
tail. 

The  dusky  grouse  (Tetrao  obscurus)  inhabits  the  coniferous 
forests  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
State.  The  cock,  according  to  common  report,  is  the  hand- 


404  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

somest  of  all  the  American  grouse.  It  is  twenty  inches  long, 
dark-brown  above,  mottled  with  lead-color,  and  lead-color  be- 
neath. There  are  twenty  feathers  in  the  tail,  which  is  broad- 
ly tipped  with  a  light  slate-color. 

The  band-tailed  pigeon,  ( Columba  fasciata)  the  only  wild 
pigeon  found  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  bears  a  strong  resemblance, 
in  form,  size,  and  color,  to  its  congener  in  the  Atlantic  States, 
and  has  similar  habits ;  but  is  not  numerous.  Small  flocks  mi- 
grate through  the  State  every  spring  and  autumn,  and  some 
of  them  spend  the  summer  here. 

The  white-winged  dove  (Melophelia  leucoptera)  has  been 
seen  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  but  is  very  rare.  It 
has  white  spots  on  its  wings,  whence  its  common  and  technical 
names  are  derived. 

The  common  dove  (Zenaidura  carolinensis)  is  found  on  the 
Pacific  slope  as  well. 

The  sand-hill  crane  (Grus  canadensis)  are  found  from  the 
meridian  of  Cincinnati  to  the  Pacific,  and  are  not  rare  in  Cal- 
ifornia. They  spend  the  winters  in  our  valleys,  and  in  the 
spring  migrate  to  the  Klamath  Lakes,  and  farther  north,  where 
they  spend  their  summers  and  breed.  Subsisting  upon  vege- 
table food  exclusively,  they  are  themselves  good  to  eat,  and 
are  occasionally  seen  in  the  San  Francisco  market. 

§  322.  Waders.— The  order  of  waders  (Gr dilator es)  is 
represented  in  California  by  forty-one  species  of  bir^s,  name- 
ly :  one  crane,  two  herons,  two  bitterns,  one  fly-up-the-creek, 
one  ibis,  six  plovers,  one  oyster-catcher,  two  turnstones,  one 
avoiset,  three  phalaropes,  one  stillet,  one  willet,  one  godwit, 
one  curlew,  five  snipes,  five  sand-pipers,  one  sanderling,  three 
rails,  and  one  coot.  The  oyster-catcher,  one  turnstone,  one 
plover,  and  one  heron,  are  the  only  species  in  the  list  not  found 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  none  of  them  have  such  value  or 
peculiarities  as  would  give  interest  to  a  particular  description 
of  them. 


ZOOLOGY.  405 

§  323.  Swimmers.— California  has  sixty-six  species  of  the 
order  of  swimmers  (Natatores).  Of  these  there  are  two 
swans,  six  geese,  twenty-two  ducks,  four  albatrosses,  two  pe- 
trels, seven  gulls,  four  terns,  three  pelicans,  three  cormorants, 
four  guillemots,  one  loon,  and  various  miscellaneous  species. 
One  swan,  all  the  albatrosses,  five  gulls,  the  two  petrels,  the 
loon,  and  one  guillemot,  are  found  only  on  this  Coast. 

The  trumpeter-swan  (Cygnus  buccinator)  is  a  very  large 
bird,  measuring  five  feet  from  the  point  of  the  bill  to  the  end 
of  the  tail,  and  six  feet  across  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  out- 
stretched wings.  The  plumage  is  snowy  white  in  color ;  its 
legs  and  bill  are  black.  The  name  of  "  trumpeter  "  is  given  to 
it  because  of  its  clarion-like  scream,  which  is  heard  as  it  flies.  It 
frequents  the  lakes  in  the  northern  and  northeastern  parts  of 
the  State,  and  is  sometimes  seen  in  the  rivers.  It  is  a  shy  bird, 
and  is  rarely  killed. 

The  American  swan,  found  also  on  the  Atlantic  slope  of  the 
continent,  is  similar  in  appearance  and  size  to  the  trumpeter, 
but  lacks  its  loud  voice,  and  is  otherwise  distinguishable  from 
it  chiefly  by  having  an  orange-colored  spot  on  its  bill,  in  front 
of  the  eye,  whereas  the  bill  of  the  Cygnus  buccinator  is  en- 
tirely black. 

Wild  geese  are  very  abundant  in  California  during  the 
spring  and  fall,  when  they  pass  through  on  their  migrations. 
Among  them  are  the  Canada  goose,  (Bemida  canadensis)  the 
snow-goose,  (Anser  hyperboreus)  the  white-footed  goose,  or 
"  speckled  belly,"  (Anser  erythropus)  Hutchings'  goose  (Ber- 
nida hutchinsii)  and  the  black  brandt,  (Bernida  nigricans). 
Hutchings'  goose  is  more  abundant  than  any  of  the  others. 
Some  of  them,  while  in  the  State,  get  all  their  food  in  the 
tules ;  others  in  the  spring  resort  to  the  fields  of  young  grain, 
where  they  pasture.  Dr.  Newberry  says :  "  I  was  much  in- 
terested in  noticing  the  perfect  harmony  of  intercourse  which 
seemed  to  exist  among  the  smaller  species.  They  intermingled 
freely  while  feeding,  and  when  alarmed  arose  without  separa- 


406  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

tion ;  and  I  have  seen  a  triangle  flying  steadily  high  over  my 
head,  composed  of  individuals  of  three  species,  each  plainly 
distinguishable  by  its  plumage,  but  each  holding  its  place  in 
the  geometrical  figure,  as  though  it  was  composed  of  entirely 
homogeneous  material ;  perhaps  unequal  members  of  the 
darker  species,  with  three,  four,  or  more  pure  snow-white 
geese  flying  together  somewhere  in  the  converging  lines." 

Among  the  ducks  of  California  are  the  mallard  and  canvas- 
back.  The  meat  of  the  latter  has  not  so  fine  a  flavor  as  in  the 
Eastern  States,  probably  because  it  does  not  here  find  the  wild 
celery  upon  which  it  feeds  along  the  streams  of  the  middle 
States. 

Many  of  the  geese  and  ducks  pass  the  winter  in  California, 
where  they  find  an  abundance  of  food  in  the  grain-fields  and 
tules. 

The  murre,  or  foolish  guillemot,  (  Uria  ringviri)  is  similar  to 
the  gulls,  seventeen  inches  long,  dark-brown  above  and  white 
beneath,  with  transverse  stripes  of  ashy-brown  on  its  sides. 
Its  throat  is  brown  in  summer  and  white  in  winter.  It  fre- 
quents the  islands  along  the  coast,  and  lays  its  eggs  there  on 
the  bare  ground  or  rocks.  These  eggs  are  wonderfully  irregu- 
lar in  form,  size,  and  color,  but  are  generally  about  three 
and  a  half  inches  long,  sea-green  in  color,  with  dark-brown 
spots  of  angular  shapes  on  them.  Quantities  of  these  eggs 
are  obtained  every  year  at  the  Farallones,  and  are  sold  in  the 
San  Francisco  market  at  about  half  the  price  of  hens'  eggs 
per  dozen,  or,  if  taken  by  weight,  at  one-fourth.  Their  taste, 
however,  is  rank,  and  they  are  not  used  by  those  who  can  af- 
ford to  buy  hens'  eggs. 

Dr.  Heermann  says  :  "  At  one  o'clock  every  day  during  the 
egg  season,  Sundays  and  Thursdays  excepted,  (this  is  to  give 
the  birds  some  little  respite)  the  egg-hunters  meet  on  the 
south  side  of  the  island.  The  roll  is  called,  to  see  that  all  are 
present,  that  each  one  may  have  an  equal  chance  in  gathering 
the  spoil.  The  signal  is  given,  every  man  starting  off  at  a  full 


ZOOLOGY.  407 

run  for  the  most  productive  egging-grounds.  The  gulls  (Larus 
occidentalism  Western  gull)  understanding,  apparently,  what  is 
about  to  occur,  are  on  the  alert,  hovering  overhead,  and  await- 
ing only  the  advance  of  the  party.  The  men  rush  eagerly 
into  the  rookeries  ;  the  affrighted  murres  have  scarcely  risen 
from  their  nests,  before  the  gull,  with  remarkable  instinct, 
not  to  say  almost  reason,  flying  but  a  few  paces  ahead  of  the 
hunter,  alights  on  the  ground,  tapping  such  eggs  as  the  short 
time  will  allow,  before  the  egger  comes  up  with  him.  The 
broken  eggs  are  passed  by  the  men,  who  remove  only  those 
which  are  sound.  The  gull,  then  returning  to  the  field  of  its 
exploits,  procures  a  plentiful  supply  of  its  favorite  food." 

A  diver,  found  in  the  bays  and  rivers  of  the  State,  gray  on 
the  back  and  white  below,  is  valuable  for  its  skin,  which  is 
stretched  and  dried  with  the  feathers  on,  and  then  used  for 
muffs  and  collars.  The  meat  is  so  fishy  and  tough,  that  it  is 
not  fit  for  the  table. 

§  324.  Fishes. — The  fishes  of  the  coast  and  rivers  of  Cali- 
fornia are  all  different  from  those  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the 
continent,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  one  species  of  the 
halibut.  The  cod  and  shad,  two  of  the  most  important  fishes 
of  the  sea  of  the  Eastern  shore,  and  the  lobster  among  crus- 
taceans, are  here  wanting,  ,  as  also  the  cat-fish  kind  in  the 
rivers.  Otherwise,  our  waters  are  probably  as  rich  in  game 
for  the  fisherman  as  those  of  any  country. 

§  325.  Salmon.— The  most  important  fish  of  California  is 
the  quinnat  salmon,  (Salmo  quinnat)  a  species  found  from 
Point  Conception  to  the  Columbia  River.  Its  color  above  is 
olivaceous  brown,  changing  to  salmon-color  beneath.  The 
largest  one  ever  caught  weighed  sixty-two  pounds ;  the 
common  size  is  from  ten  to  thirty  pounds.  The  salmon  are 
born  in  the  rivers,  but  go  down  to  the  sea,  where  they  spend 
part  of  every  year.  They  commence  to  enter  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco  in  November,  and  continue  to  come  in  for  three  or 
four  months.  They  ascend  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin 


408  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Rivers  and  some  of  their  smaller  tributaries,  deposit  their 
spawn,  and  in  June  go  out  to  sea  again.  They  come  in  lean 
and  go  out  lean,  but  in  the  late  winter  and  early  spring  they 
are  fat.  There  are  two  common  popular  errors  :  that  the  sal- 
mon do  not  eat  after  leaving  the  sea,  and  that  they  never  get 
back  alive.  The  former  error  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  no 
large  articles  of  food  are  found  in  its  stomach  ;  and  the  latter 
to  the  fact  that  when  going  out  all  are  lean,  and  that  many 
are  found  dead  along  the  banks  of  salmon-streams.  But  the 
salmon  find  their  chief  food  in  minute  animalculae,  and  not  in 
fish,  for  catching  which  they  seem  to  be  so  well  fitted,  with  their 
large  mouths  and  sharp  teeth.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
salmon  bite  like  trout,  and  furnish  excellent  sport  in  clear 
water  to  the  skillful  fisherman  with  the  fly.  They  dislike  the 
mud  with  which  the  streams  emptying  into  San  Francisco  Bay 
are  filled  by  the  miners,  and  therefore  do  not  go  far  from  the 
sea  or  ascend  the  small  tributaries ;  but  elsewhere  they  as- 
cend every  little  brook,  up  to  points  where  there  is  scarcely 
enough  water  for  them  to  swim ;  and  in  these  expeditions  they 
are  so  much  exhausted  and  bruised  that  they  soon  die ;  but 
the  number  thus  killed  is  as  nothing  compared  with  those 
which  go  out  to  sea  again.  The  female  salmon,  having  found 
a  suitable  place,  uses  her  nose  to  dig  a  trench  in  the  sand 
about  six  feet  long,  a  foot  wide,  and  three  inches  deep,  and 
having  deposited  her  spawn  in  it,  throws  a  little  sand  over  it 
with  her  tail,  and  departs,  leaving  her  eggs  to  be  hatched  and 
the  offspring  to  be  fed  as  best  they  can.  In  the  month  of 
May  the  young  salmon  are  found  on  their  way  to  the  sea, 
from  three  to  six  inches  long.  It  is  supposed  that  the  salmon 
always  return  to  the  river  in  which  they  were  born  :  so  that 
the  salmon  born  in  the  Klamath  River  never  enter  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay,  nor  do  those  born  in  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joa- 
quin  Rivers  ever  enter  Humboldt  Bay.  Although  the  sea- 
son in  which  salmon  are  abundant  in  the  rivers  extends  from 
November  to  June,  yet  some  of  them  are  found  in  the 


ZOOLOGY.  409 

streams  of  California  at  all  seasons,  and  they  can  be  had  fresh 
in  the  San  Francisco  market  every  day  in  the  year. 

The  qniunat  is  the  chief  salmon  of  all  the  streams  and  bays 
of  California,  but  Gairdner's  salmon  (Fario  gairclneri)  is 
found  in  the  Klamath  River,  and  the  stellatus  salmon  in  Hum- 
boldt  Bay  and  its  tributaries.  Gairdner's  salmon  has  a  sil- 
very-gray back,  silvery  sides,  and  a  yellowish-white  belly. 
The  body  has  numerous  indistinct,  blackish  spots.  The  stel- 
latus salmon  is  light-olive  in  the  back,  yellowish-white  on  the 
belly,  and  rarely  exceeds  two  or  three  pounds  in  weight. 

§  326.  Halibut. — There  are  two  species  of  halibut  on  the 
coast  of  California,  the  Californian  (Hippoglossus  californi- 
cus)  and  the  common  (Hippoglossus  vulgaris).  There  is 
some  doubt  whether  the  latter  species  is  properly  named ;  if  it 
be,  then  we  have  one  species  of  fish  found  on  the  Atlantic 
coast.  The  Californian  halibut  is  a  slender  fish,  weighing  at 
the  largest  twenty-five  pounds,  in  color  grayish-brown  above 
and  white  below.  The  halibut  prefer  a  colder  climate,  and 
are  not  sufficiently  abundant  in  this  latitude  to  sustain  a  spec- 
ial fishery  ;  but  a  few  are  in  our  market  throughout  the  year. 
They  live  in  deep  water,  and  in  places  where  the  bottom  is 
rocky.  They  eat  little  fish  and  shell-fish,  and  bite  readily  at 
the  hook.  Their  meat  is  very  delicate. 

§  327.  Turbot. — The  turbot  (Pleuronychthys  rugosus)  is 
the  only  large  flat-fish,  except  the  halibut,  found  along  our 
shore.  It  inhabits  deep  waters  and  rocky  bottoms,  eats  fish, 
and  bites  readily  at  the  hook,  is  one  of  the  best  fish  in  our 
market,  and  sometimes  grows  to  weigh  twenty  pounds,  but 
the  common  size  is  from  three  to  ten  pounds. 

§  328.  Sole. — We  have  four  species  of  small  flat-fish,  com- 
monly called  soles  (Psettichthys  sordidus,  Psettichthys  mela- 
nostictus,  Parophrys  vetulus,  and  Platessa  bilmeata).  They 
are  so  much  alike,  that  they  are  not  distinguished  from 
one  another  by  fishermen  generally.  The  Platessa  bilmeata  is 
the  largest,  sometimes  weighing  two  pounds ;  the  others  rarely 


410  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

exceed  one  pound.  They  frequent  the  shallow  waters  of  the 
Bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  are  caught  abundantly  in  nets  at 
all  seasons  of  the  year.  The  flat-fishes  do  not  bury  them- 
selves  in  the  mud  here  through  the  winter,  as  they  do  in  the 
North  Atlantic.  The  soles  feed  on  Crustacea,  little  fishes,  and 
marine  animaculse. 

§  329.  Mackerel. — The  mackerel,  (Scomber  diego)  found 
north  of  Point  Conception,  is  good,  but  not  more  than  half  as 
large  as  the  Atlantic  mackerel,  rarely  exceeding  ten  inches  in 
length.  It  lies  near  the  surface  of  the  water  at  sea,  and  is  not 
fond  of  entering  bays,  or  going  very  near  the  shore.  Like  its 
Eastern  congener,  it  bites  readily  at  any  white  rag  or  shining 
white  substance  jerked  through  the  water. 

§  330.  Hock-Fish. — The  rock-fish  furnish  the  main  supply 
of  fish  in  the  San  Francisco  market.  All  belong  to  the  genus 
fiebastes,  of  which  there  are  eight  species,  the  most  important 
being  the  red,  (rosaceus)  black,  (melanops)  and  wharf  rock- 
fish  (auricidatus).  The  red  rock-fish  grows  to  weigh  twenty 
pounds ;  the  other  species  rarely  exceed  four  or  live.  The 
wharf  rock-fish  is  the  only  one  caught  in  the  bay ;  the  others 
live  out  at  sea,  in  deep  water  and  on  rocky  bottoms ;  they  eat 
crabs  and  shell-fish,  and  bite  freely  at  hooks.  They  are  al- 
ways in  market,  and  their  meat  is  excellent  at  all  seasons. 

§  331.  Sturgeon. — The  sturgeon  is  represented  in  this 
State  by  three  species,  the  only  important  one  being  the  Cali- 
fornian  sturgeon,  which  sometimes  reaches  a  length  of  nine 
feet,  with  a  weight  of  300  pounds.  It  is  a  sea-fish,  but 
spawns  in  fresh  water,  and  it  is  caught  in  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco  and  tributaries  at  all  seasons  of  the  year ;  whereas 
in  the  Eastern  States  there  are  seasons  for  sturgeon  in  the 
market,  as  there  are  for  beans  and  peas. 

The  sturgeon  eats  the  slimy  matter,  both  animal  and  vege- 
table, at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  It  never  bites,  its  mouth 
being  circular  in  form,  and  fitted  only  for  sucking.  It  has  a 
habit  of  shooting  up  from  the  bottom  and  springing  out  of 


ZOOLOGY.  411 

water,  and  then  falling  flat  upon  its  belly,  making  a  loud 
splash — very  different  from  the  porpoise,  which  also  darts  out 
of  the  water,  but  always  strikes  head  first,  making  little  noise. 
Some  ichthyologists  suppose  that  the  object  of  the  sturgeon  in 
thus  falling  on  the  water  is  to  free  itself  from  parasites ; 
others,  that  it  is  merely  a  kind  of  play.  The  spawning-season 
is  not  known  precisely,  but  it  is  probably  from  December  to 
May.  The  meat  of  the  sturgeon  is  coarse,  and  in  the  market 
is  worth  only  about  one-fourth  or  one-sixth  of  that  of  the 
better  table  fishes  ;  but  the  sturgeon  fishery  is  profitable,  be- 
cause of  the  abundance  and  large  size  of  the  fish. 

§  332.  Jewfish. — The  Jewfish,  (Stereokpis  gigas)  one  of 
the  largest  scale-fishes,  weighing  sometimes  five  hundred 
pounds— is  abundant  south  of  Point  Conception,  and  rarely 
straggles  as  far  north  as  San  Francisco  Bay.  Only  two  have 
been  caught  near  the  Golden  Gate,  and  one  of  them  filled  the 
city  with  wonder.  It  is  a  bottom  fish,  living  in  deep  and  shoal 
water,  and  frequenting  lagoons  and  kelp.  It  often  comes  to 
the  surface,  and  according  to  report,  goes  to  sleep  there.  It 
bites  readily  at  the  hook,  and  may  Ibe  taken  with  harpoons. 
The  meat  is  very  good. 

§  333.  Sunfish. — The  sunfish,  (Orihagoriscus  analis) 
though  not  abundant,  is  frequently  found  south  of  Point  Con- 
ception, where  it  is  seen  floating  on  the  surface,  in  accordance 
with  the  habits  of  the  genus  everywhere.  Its  form  suggests 
the  idea  that  the  body  has  been  cut  off  near  the  broadest  part, 
and  the  tail  sewed  on,  and  its  usual  weight  ranges  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  pounds. 

§  334.  Green  fish. — The  greenfish,  (Opplomona  pantheri- 
na)  generally  called  cod  in  the  San  Francisco  market,  but 
having  no  relationship  to  the  true  cod,  is  abundant  along  the 
coast.  It  grows  to  about  two  feet  in  length.  The  meat  is 
coarse,  and  green  in  color  ;  and  the  fish  has  little  commercial 
value. 


412  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

§  335.  /Sea-JBass. — The  sea-bass  (Johnius  nobilis)  is  a 
plain,  oval  fish,  bluish-gray  in  color  above,  silvery  below, 
weighing  from  fifteen  to  forty  pounds.  It  is  closely  related  to 
the  weak-fish  of  the  New  York  market.  The  meat  is  white 
and  delicate,  and  always  commands  a  high  price  in  the 
market.  It  is  a  surface  fish,  and  sometimes  enters  the  bays, 
but  it  is  not  abundant  anywhere.  It  is  caught  from  March  to 
November. 

§  336.  Sheepshead. — The  Californian  sheepshead  (Labrus 
pulcher)  is  a  black  fish,  with  a  broad,  bright- red  band  sur- 
rounding the  body,  and  weighs  from  one  to  twelve  pounds. 
It  has  white,  broad,  projecting  teeth,  like  those  of  a  sheep.  It 
has  no  relationship  to  the  Atlantic  sheepshead,  but  is  a  conge- 
ner of  the  black-fish  of  the  New  York  market.  The  meat 
has  a  very  fine  flavor  when  fresh,  but  loses  its  delicacy  after 
being  dead  a  day  or  two.  It  is  found  south  of  Point  Concep- 
tion, on  rocky  and  kelpy  bottoms,  from  April  to  October.  Its 
food  is  chiefly  shell-fish. 

§  337.  Smelts. — We  have  four  species  of  fish  called  smelts 
(Atherniopsis  calif  or  niensis,  Atherniopsis  affinis,  Osmerus 
preciosus,  and  Osmerus  similis).  The  Atherniopses  are  not 
true  smelts,  but  belong  to  the  same  genus  with  the  sander- 
lings  of  the  Atlantic,  which  last  are  thrown  away,  or  used  only 
as  bait ;  whereas  our  Atherniopses  are  valuable  fishes.  The 
Atherniopsis  californiensis  forms  the  great  bulk  of  the  smelts 
in  our  market.  It  is  the  largest  of  the  Pacific  smelts,  sometimes 
reaching  a  length  of  fifteen  inches,  and  a  pound  in  weight.  The 
Osmerus  species  are  small.  All  of  them  have  bright  silver 
bands  along  their  sides.  The  smelts  are  more  abundant  here 
than  on  the  Eastern  Coast,  and  are  the  best  of  our  small  fishes. 
They  are  caught  at  all  seasons  of  the  year ;  in  the  bays  with 
nets — never  at  sea,  or  with  hooks. 

§  338.  Anchovy. — There  are  two  anchovies  (Engraulis 
mordax  and  Engraulis  nanus)  on  the  coast  of  California. 
They  are  so  nearly  alike,  that  they  are  undistinguishable  ex- 


ZOOLOGY.  413 

cept  by  ichthyologists.  Both  are  small,  from  four  to  six  inches 
long,  very  delicate  in  flavor,  but  very  bony.  They  are  fully 
equal  to  the  European  anchovy  for  the  table.  They  feed  on 
minute  animalculse,  go  in  shoals,  and  are  caught  with  nets  in 
the  bays  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

§  339.  Sardine  and  Herring. — The  sardine  (Meletta  cent- 
led)  is  abundant  from  Humboldt  Bay  to  San  Diego.  It  grows 
to  a  length  of  eight  or  nine  inches,  and  is  therefore  much  larger 
than  the  Mediterranean  sardine,  to  which  it  is  fully  equal  in 
flavor.  It  is  found  along  the  coast  from  April  to  October,  and 
is  caught  in  the  bays  with  nets. 

The  herring  (Clupea  mirabilis)  is  not  so  abundant  as  the 
Atlantic  species,  nor  so  large,  but  is  equal  in  flavor.  It  comes 
in  the  spring,  and  goes  in  the  autumn. 

§  340.  Viviparous  Fishes. — The  viviparous  or  embiotocoid 
fishes  of  this  Coast  are  a  peculiar  feature  of  its  ichthyology. 
They  constitute,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable  natural  group 
of  fishes  in  the  world,  and  their  discovery  caused  a  marked 
sensation  among  zoologists.  Other  viviparous  fishes  have  been 
previously  known,  but  their  young  are  brought  forth  in  a  very 
immature  condition  ;  whereas  the  little  embiotocoid  fishes  are 
born  with  a  fullness  of  development  similar  to  that  of  warm- 
blooded animals,  and  the  moment  after  they  leave  the  mother 
they  are  seen  swimming  about  and  taking  care  of  themselves. 
There  are  seventeen  or  eighteen  species  belonging  to  the  sev- 
eral genera,  among  which  the  embiotoca  and  holconotis  are 
prominent.  All  are  marine  fishes  save  one,  which  is  found  in 
fresh  water.  They  weigh  from  half  a  pound  to  three  pounds, 
and  most  of  them  are  grayish  brown  above  and  silvery  be- 
neath. They  are  abundant  in  the  market  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  are  called  "  perch  "  by  the  fishermen, -though  they 
bear  no  relationship  to  the  true  perch.  The  meat  is  not  good. 
The  young  are  born  from  April  to  August. 

§  341.  Flying-Fish. — The  California!!  flying-fish,  (Exoce- 
tus  californicus)  found  off  our  coast  from  Santa  Cruz  to  San 


414  RESOURCES  OP  CALIFORNIA. 

Diego,  grows  to  be  about  sixteen  inches  long,  with  flying  fins 
nine  inches  long.  These  start  out  back  of  the  gills,  and  when 
folded  down  against  the  body,  reach  nearly  to  the  tail.  It  can 
fly  from  200  to  400  yards,  does  not  reach  a  height  of  more 
than  25  feet,  nor  stay  out  of  water  more  than  a  minute  at  a 
time.  It  is  seldom  caught,  save  when  it  flies  on  a  vessel.  The 
meat  is  palatable. 

§  342.  Fresh-water  Fishes. — Among  the  fresh-water  fishes 
the  most  important  is  the  brook-trout,  (Salar  irided)  which 
is  found  in  all  the  mountain  streams  of  the  State,  and 
offers  fine  sport  for  fly-fishing.  It  not  unfrequently  grows  to 
weigh  two  pounds,  and  if  report  is  to  be  believed,  sometimes 
reaches  ten  and  twelve  pounds.  In  appearance  and  flavor  it 
is  similar  to  the  trout  of  other  countries. 

A  fish  called  the  salmon-trout,  (Ptychocheilus  grandis)  but 
not  related  to  the  salmon,  the  trout,  or  the  salmon-trout,  found 
in  all  the  large  rivers  and  lakes  of  California,  weighing  30 
pounds  at  its  largest  size,  is  caught  with  the  hook  or  net  in 
winter.  The  meat  is  insipid.  It  lives  on  shell-fish,  which  it 
crushes  in  its  throat,  where  its  teeth  are. 

A  chub,  (Tygoirua  crassicauda)  and  two  suckers,  (Catosto- 
mus  labiatus  and  Oatostomus  occidentalis)  never  weighing 
more  than  three  pounds,  are  also  found  in  our  rivers.  They 
are  not  valuable. 

§  343.  Reptiles. — The  snakes  of  California  are  not  large, 
numerous,  or  remarkable.  Only  one  of  them,  the  rattle- 
snake, is  poisonous. 

The  scorpion  is  found  in  the  warmer  portions  of  the  State, 
but  is  not  abundant. 

Tarantulas  are  common  in  Calaveras,  Mariposa,  Fresno,  and 
Tulare  Counties.  They  belong  to  the  same  genus  with  the 
spiders,  but  the  body  grows  to  be  three  inches  long  and  an 
inch  wide,  and  the  entire  length  from  end  to  end  of  out- 
stretched legs  is  five  inches.  The  body  and  legs  are  covered 
with  silky,  brown  hair.  The  tarantula  eats  little  insects  of  van- 


ZOOLOGY.  415 

ous  kinds,  but,  unlike  most  other  spiders,  has  no  net.  It  lives 
in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  not  much  larger  than  itself  when 
pressed  into  the  smallest  compass,  and  the  hole  is  covered  by 
a  little  door  on  a  hinge,  which  closes  by  its  own  weight,  or  by 
a  spring.  In  the  top  of  the  door  are  several  little  holes,  into 
which  the  tarantula  can  insert  its  claws  when  it  wishes  to  en- 
ter ;  and  so  quick  are  its  motions  when  terrified,  that  it  often 
disappears  suddenly  under  the  eyes  of  men  pursuing  it,  and 
they  have  great  difficulty  in  finding  its  hiding-place.  The 
door  fits  tightly,  and  is  larger  on  the  outside,  so  that  it  never 
sticks  fast. 

The  bite  of  the  tarantula  is  poisonous,  but  not  fatal — or  at 
least  has  never,  so  far  as  I  know,  proved  fatal  in  California. 
It  rarely  bites  men,  and  generally  flees  when  it  discovers  their 
approach.  The  tarantulas  have  dangerous  enemies  in  several 
species  of  wasps,  the  females  of  which  kill  them  by  thrusting 
eggs  into  their  bodies.  When  the  larvae  of  the  wasp  are 
hatched,  they  make  food  of  the  carcass.  So  soon  as  the  tar- 
antula dies,  the  wasp  drags  it  to  her  hole,  usually  the  deserted 
burrow  of  a  spermophile,  where  she  may  collect  twenty  or 
thirty  dead  tarantulas  in  one  season.  There  are  three  differ- 
ent species  of  these  wasps :  one  kind  is  blue,  another  yellow. 
Sometimes  the  wasp  darts  down  repeatedly  upon  the  taran- 
tula, and  does  not  touch  him  except  with  her.  egg-planter,  de- 
positing an  egg  at  every  thrust.  On  other  occasions  the  two 
grapple,  and  the  wasp  continues  to  insert  her  eggs  until  the 
tarantula  dies.  The  editor  of  a  newspaper  of  Mariposa  thus 
describes  the  killing  of  a  tarantula  :  "  Some  of  our  readers 
may  have  heard  of  the  tenacity  with  which  the  venomous  tar- 
antula is  pursued  by  an  inveterate  enemy,  in  the  form  of  a  huge 
wasp — invariably  resulting  in  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  for- 
mer. We  were  an  eye-witness  to  one  of  these  conflicts  last 
week,  while  on  a  ramble  among  the  adjacent  hills.  This  is 
the  season  when  the  poisonous  tarantula  leaves  his  well-fash- 
ioned abode  to  perambulate  the  dusty  roads  and  smooth  paths 


416  EESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

so  often  trod  by  the   industrious   miners ;  and   about    their 
haunts  a  dozen  or  more  may  be   seen  any  day,  of  this  hideous 
enlargement   of  the   spider-race,  within   a   circuit   of  a   few 
yards,  leisurely  wending  their  way  along  the  roads  and  by- 
ways.    Often  have  we  marked,  with  attentive  curiosity,  his 
awkward  gait  while  lifting  his  long,  unwieldy  legs  above  the 
short  blades  of  grass,  and  wondered  for  what  uses  and  pur- 
poses this  ugly  little  monster  was  placed  upon  this  beautiful 
globe.     While  attentively  watching  the   motions   of  one  of 
these  insects  during  our  walk,  we  were  much  surprised  to  see 
the  object  of  our  attraction  suddenly  stop  short  in  his  wan- 
derings and  raise  itself  up  to  its  full  height,  as  though  watch- 
ing the  coming  of  some  unwelcome  visitor.     We  at  tirst  sup- 
posed that  it  had  just  espied  us,  and  was  expecting  danger  at 
our  hands ;  but  upon  our  retreating  a  few  steps,  he  quickly 
crouched  behind  a  tuft  of  dried  grass,  and  remaining  very 
quiet,  seemed  to  make  himself  as  small  as  possible.     A  slight 
buzzing  was  heard  in  the  air,  and  in  a  moment  a  wasp  passed 
near,   hovering  on  the  wing  over  his  trembling  victim,  the 
much-dreaded  tarantula.     Like  some  bird  of  prey,  the  wasp 
remained  thus  poised   for    a   moment,  and    then,  quick    as 
thought,  darted  down  upon  the  enemy,  and  stung  him  many 
times  with  great  rapidity.     The  tarantula,  smarting  under  the 
pain,  began  a  retreat,  with   all  the   speed  of  which   he  was 
capable ;  but  the  wasp  hung  over  him  with  wonderful  tenac- 
ity, and  again  and  again  struck  him  with  his  venomous  sting. 
Gradually   the   flight  of  the  tarantula   became  slower  and 
more  irregular,  and  at  length,  under  the   repeated  thrusts  of 
his  conqueror,  he   died,  biting  the  grass   with   his  terrible 
fangs." 

Several  species  of  small  spiders,  which  live  in  a  dwelling 
like  those  of  the  tarantula,  and  therefore  called  "  trap-door  " 
spiders,  are  found  in  California,  and  one  kind  has  many  rep- 
resentatives on  Telegraph  Hill,  in  San  Francisco. 


ZOOLOGY.  417 

Locusts  and  grasshoppers  are  abundant  in  the  valleys; 
mosquitoes  in  the  tules,  and  along  the  streams  in  the  Sacra- 
mento Basin  ;  and  flies  everywhere. 

§  344.  Honey-Dew  Aphis. — Among  the  noteworthy  insects 
of  the  State  is  one  which  secretes  a  sweet  liquid  called  "  honey- 
dew,"  and  deposits  it  on  trees.  It  is  transparent,  thick  like 
honey,  and  sweet,  sometimes  with  a  bitter  after-taste,  but  more 
frequently  having  a  flavor  like  parched  corn.  The  leaves  and, 
twigs  are  covered  with  it,  the  deposit  usually  being  nearly  even, 
occasionally  in  spots  or  drops.  The  honey-dew  is  more  fre- 
quently found  on  oak-trees  than  on  any  other  tree  or  bush ;  and 
oftener  in  dry  seasons,  and  remote  from  the  coast,  than  in  wet 
weather  or  within  reach  of  the  sea-fogs.  A  kind  of  molasses 
may  be  made  by  breaking  off  the  twigs  covered  with  the  secre- 
tion, and  boiling  them  in  water.  Honey-dew  is  found  in  most 
countries  where  the  soil  is  barren  or  the  climate  dry,  and  may 
be  the  same  with  the  manna  of  the  Hebrews. 

§  345.  Shell-Fish— We  have  five  species  of  shell-fish  val- 
uable for  the  table :  one  oyster,  two  mussels,  one  cockle,  and  a 
soft-shelled  clam.  The  oysters  are  small,  not  finely-flavored, 
nor  abundant. 

The  abelone  or  aulone  (Haliotis)  is  found  as  far  north  as 
Point  Reyes,  and  abounds  south  of  Point  Conception.  It  is  a 
mollusk  with  one  shell,  from  five  to  seven  inches  across  ;  beau- 
tifully iridescent,  and  is  much  used  in  the  arts  for  buttons,  knife- 
handles,  and  inlaying.  Many  vessels  are  engaged  in  fishing 
for  them.  The  abelones  stick  to  the  rocks  and  to  each  other, 
collecting  in  some  places  in  masses  two  feet  thick ;  the  fisher- 
men break  them  off  from  the  rocks  with  a  spade.  When  the 
abelones  do  not  suspect  danger,  they  loosen  their  hold  and  raise 
their  shells  from  the  rock,  and  then  the  fisherman  may  easily 
thrust  his  spade  down  along  the  surface  of  the  stone ;  but  if 
he  alarms  the  abelone  beforehand,  he  finds  the  shells  fastened 
down  to  the  rock  with  great  power,  and  all  the  strength  of  a 
man  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  pry  one  of  them  off.  The  meat  of 
27 


418  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

the  abelone  is  eaten  by  the  Chinese,  who  dry  it  into  a  sub- 
stance resembling  a  colt's  hoof  in  color,  and  hardness,  and 
shape. 

There  are  two  cowries  on  the  coast  of  California ;  one  shell 
of  the  harp  (harpa)  genus,  so  called  because  ribs  suggesting  the 
strings  of  a  harp  run  down  over  its  sides  from  its  spiral  crown ; 
four  species  of  the  olive,  (oliva)  which  resemble  the  fruit  of  the 
same  in  size,  shape,  and  color;  one  species  of  the  voluta,  (simi- 
lar to  the  harp,  but  without  its  ribs) ;  twelve  species  of  the  lim- 
pet, and  two  species  of  the  bivalve  pilgrim  shell,  (pecten)  used 
sometimes  by  ladies  for  pincushions.  All  these  contribute  to 
make  the  beaches  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  attractive. 

We  have  no  lobster,  but  a  prawn,  (Palinuris)  very  similar 
to  the  lobster  in  size,  color,  flavor,  habits,  and  general  appear- 
ance, except  that  it  lacks  the  large  claws.  Crabs  are  abun- 
dant. 

The  shrimp  (Crangon  franciscorwri)  is  found  in  the  bays  of 
California,  and  was  very  abundant  a  few  years  ago  ;  but  lately 
it  is  getting  scarce,  at  least  in  San  Francisco  Bay. 

Coral  grows  off  the  coast  at  various  points,  as  far  north  as 
the  Farallones ;  and  sponge  is  found  from  Santa  Barbara  south- 
ward in  small  quantities. 

The  climate  is  so  dry  in  many  parts  of  the  State  that  land 
*mollusks  are  comparatively  rare,  and  some  of  the  snails 
adapt  themselves  to  the  circumstances  by  estivating,  or  re- 
maining torpid  in  the  hot  dry  months,  as  other  animals  hy- 
bernate  in  very  cold  weather  farther  north. 

A  sea-egg,  (Echinus)  sea-urchin,  or  sea-porcupine,  as  it  is 
variously  called,  has  a  shell  nearly  spherical  in  shape,  and 
about  three  inches  in  diameter,  with  spines  three  inches  long 
and  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  flesh  is  palatable, 
and  the  spines  are  sometimes  used  as  slate-pencils. 

§  346.  Ship-Worm. — The  ship-worm  (Teredo  navalis)  is 
probably  not  indigenous  in  the  waters  of  California,  but  it 
abounds  in  our  bays,  and  does  great  damage.  It  is  a  worm 


ZOOLOGY.  419 


of  soft  flesh,  but  is  provided  with  bone-like  cutters,  or  teeth, 
with  which  it  bores  through  hard  wood,  sometimes  making  a 
hole  a  third  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  It  usually  follows  the 
grain,  lives  only  in  wood  below  high  tide  in  salt  water,  and 
never  descends  far  below  low  tide.  The  mixture  of  fresh 
water  with  that  from  the  sea  diminishes  the  activity  of  the 
teredo,  and  in  seasons  of  drought  they  do  comparatively  much 
injury  in  San  Francisco  Bay,  but  little  after  abundant  rains, 
continuing  late  into  the  summer.  The  eggs  are  thrown  out 
upon  the  water  and  carried  about  by  the  current.  If  they 
stick  upon  wood,  they  hatch  and  bore  in,  and  once  inside  they 
never  leave  it  till  it  is  converted  into  honey-comb.  Piles  fif- 
teen inches  through,  unless  covered  with  metal  or  filled  with 
some  substance  (creosote,  for  instance)  offensive  to  the  ship- 
worm,  are  usually  rendered  worthless  in  five  years,  and  some- 
times in  three. 

Another  harbor  pest  is  the  gribble,  (Limnoria)  a  worm 
about  one-tenth  of  an  inch  long,  which  lives  in  wood  exposed 
to  sea  water,  between  high  and  low  tide,  and  unlike  the  teredo, 
eats  across  the  grain,  and  comes  out  to  the  surface. 


420  KESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

LAW. 

§  347.  Constitution. — California  is  a  State  in  the  American 
Union,  nominally  sovereign,  but  subject  to  the  superior  author- 
ity of  Congress  over  commerce,  naturalization,  coinage,  cur- 
rency, foreign  relations,  and  the  army  and  navy.  The  execu- 
tive officers  of  State  are  elected  by  the  people,  a  year  before 
the  Presidential  election,  and  hold  office  for  four  years.  The 
legislative  power  of  the  State  is  held  by  a  Senate,  of  forty 
members,  who  hold  office  four  years,  (half  being  elected  every 
alternate  year)  and  an  Assembly  of  eighty  members,  all  of 
whom  are  elected  every  odd  year.  The  Legislature  holds  a 
regular  session  of  four  months  once  in  two  years,  commencing 
in  December  of  every  odd  year.  The  members  generally  are 
men  with  little  experience  in  business,  and  little  character. 
Gross  corruption  is  common  among  them. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  California  has  five  judges,  who  are 
elected  by  the  people,  and  who  hold  their  office  for  a  term  of 
ten  years.  It  has  no  original  jurisdiction,  and  devotes  itself  to 
the  decision  of  law  questions  brought  up  on  appeal  from  the 
District  Courts,  of  which  there  are  twenty.  The  District  Judges 
are  elected  by  the  people  for  six  years,  and  have  original  juris- 
diction in  cases  of  mandamus,  injunction,  land  titles,  divorces, 
suits  for  more  than  $300  in  money,  murder,  and  arson  that 
-might  cause  death.  Crimes  are  tried  in  the  County  Courts. 


LAW.  421 

Either  party  can  have  a  jury  in  any  case,  and  it  may  be  waived 
in  civil  suits  or  trials  for  misdemeanor,  but  not  in  felonies.  The 
judges  of  California  have,  as  a  class,  been  learned,  able,  and 
upright  men,  and  have  been  far  superior  to  the  legislative  and 
executive  officers  in  learning,  capacity,  and  integrity. 

The  county  officers  are  mostly  elected  for  terms  of  two  or 
four  years,  and  they  are  generally  chosen  on  account  of  serv- 
ice rendered  to  the  successful  party.  The  term  of  service  be- 
ing brief,  reelection  doubtful,  ejection  for  incompetency  un- 
heard of,  and  punishment  for  malfeasance — notwithstanding 
the  frequency  of  the  offense — very  rare,  there  is  no  sufficient 
motive  to  stimulate  the  officials  to  study  their  duties,,  or  to 
comply  very  strictly  with  them,  so  far  as  known. 

The  Federal  as  well  as  the  State  offices  are  the  subjects  of 
scramble  once  in  four  years,  or  oftener,  and  success  is  not  de- 
termined by  the  public  interests.  The  partisan  system  of  the 
United  States  is  corrupt  and  corrupting  everywhere,  and  in  few 
States  has  its  influence  been  more  pernicious  than  here.  San 
Francisco  has  fortunately  repudiated  it,  and  most  of  her  offi- 
cials have  been  chosen  in  defiance  of  the  Republican  and  Dem- 
ocratic wire-workers,  and  her  administration  has  been  in  many 
respects  better  than  that  of  any  other  American  city. 

§  348.  Marriage.  Marriage,  by  the  law  of  California,  is  a 
civil  contract.  No  ceremonial  form,  publication  of  banns, 
consent  of  parents,  blessing  of  priest,  seal  of  magistrate,  or 
presence  of  witness,  is  necessary  to  give  validity  to  the  con- 
tract, if  the  parties  be  adults.  Although  the  law  does  not 
require  a  ceremony,  yet  custom  does,  and  the  priests  and 
preachers  are  usually  called  in  to  perform  it.  Divorce  may 
be  granted  for  adultery,  habitual  intemperance,  extreme 
cruelty,  desertion  for  two  years,  sentence  to  the  State  prison 
for  two  years  or  more,  and  impotence.  There  has  been  much 
complaint  that  the  statute  renders  divorce  too  easy,  but  the 
general  opinion  of  California  is  favorable  to  the  law  as  it  is. 


422  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

§  349.  Inheritance. — The  husband  can  convey  his  separate 
property  and  one-half  of  the  common  property  by  will,  at  his 
pleasure.  If,  however,  he  gives  little  or  nothing  to  his  chil- 
dren or  wife,  the  jury  in  the  Probate  Court  may  declare  him 
insane,  and  set  the  will  aside.  If  he  died  without  a  will,  his 
widow  takes  one-half  if  there  be  no  child,  or  only  one  child, 
and  one-third  if  there  be  two  or  more  children.  If  there  be 
no  child,  half  shall  go  to  his  father,  and  if  there  be  no  father 
living,  then  to  the  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  in  equal  shares, 
or  the  entire  half  to  one  if  only  one  be  alive.  If  the  intestate 
had  a  child  who  died  before  him  and  left  children,  they  get 
the  share  of  their  parent.  The  children  inherit  equally  when 
they  inherit  anything.  No  distinction  is  made  on  account  of 
age  or  sex.  If  the  intestate  leave  no  wife  or  child,  all  goes 
to  the  father,  and  if  he  leave  no  child,  parent,  brother,  or  sis- 
ter, all  goes  to  the  wife.  In  case  of  the  death  of  the  wife 
without  a  will,  her  property  descends  in  the  same  manner  to 
her  husband,  children,  and  relatives. 

No  legacy  to  a  corporation  is  valid,  unless  the  corporation 
be  expressly  authorized  by  its  charter,  or  by  statute  to  take 
bequests. 

§  350.  Conveyance  of  Land. — Real  estate  is  conveyed  by 
"  grant."  The  Statute  gives  the  following  as  a  valid  form  : 

I,  A B ,  grant  to  C D all  that  real  prop- 
erty situated  in County,  State  of  California,  bounded  as 

follows . 

Witness  my  hand  this day  of 18 — . 

A.B. 

No  seal  is  necessary,  and  a  fee-simple  title  passes,  unless  a 
limitation  be  expressed.  Under  the  English  law,  if  the  con- 
veyance were  made  to  "  John  Smith,"  simply,  the  title  reverted 
to  the  grantor  when  Smith  died ;  and  to  get  a  fee-simple  the 
conveyance  was  made  to  "  John  Smith  and  his  heirs." 

The  use  of  the  word  "  grant  "  in  a  fee-simple  conveyance  in 


LAW.  423 

California,  implies  and  covenants  that  the  grantor  has  not  pre- 
viously conveyed  his  title  or  any  part  of  it  to  any  other  per- 
son, or  encumbered  it  in  any  way  ;  in  other  words,  he  cove- 
nants that  the  title  is  as  good  as  when  he  got  it.  The  grant 
title  is  equivalent  to  the  "  bargain  and  sale  "  title,  which  was 
in  general  use  before  1873.  Warranty  conveyances  have 
never  been  extensively  used  in  California. 

§  351.  Tenure  of  Land.— Most  of  the  land  in  California 
is  owned  by  the  Federal  Government,  which  acquired  it  from 
Mexico  by  treaty.  This  Federal  land  lies  in  the  mineral  re- 
gions, and  in  all  the  unsettled  districts  of  the  State.  Most  of 
it  has  been  surveyed,  and  with  the  exception  of  land  in  the 
mineral  districts,  is  offered  to  homestead  settlers,  in  lots  of 
forty  acres,  or  tracts  of  any  size  of  which  forty  is  a  multiple, 
not  exceeding  160  acres. 

Most  of  the  land  held  in  private  ownership  in  the  State,  is 
under  grants  made  by  Mexico  previous  to  1846.  Of  these 
grants  there  are  eight  hundred  and  thirteen,  covering  a  total 
of  9,828,181  acres.  Of  these  claims,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  covering  about  3,000,000  acres,  have  been  finally  rejected, 
and  some  are  as  yet  undecided.  The  grants  were  for  large 
tracts  called  ranchos,  intended  to  be  used  chiefly  or  ex- 
clusively for  pasturage,  and  the  average  size  was  about  12,- 
000  acres,  or  three  square  leagues.  The  grants  were  made, 
not  by  the  acre  or  by  the  mile,  but  by  the  square  league,  con- 
taining 4,438  acres  and  a  fraction,  or,  to  be  precise,  4,438.683 
acres.  Every  ranch  had  its  name,  for  it  was  a  kind  of  princi- 
pality ;  and  these  names  have  in  many  cases  been  transferred  to 
towns  and  townships  under  the  American  dominion. 

The  common  tenure  of  land  in  California  is  fee-simple. 
Such  conditional  tenures  as  are  common  in  Europe  are  very 
rare  here,  and  many  of  them  are  prohibited  by  our  laws.  We 
have  few  life  estates,  nor  is  any  lease  or  limited  conveyance  of 
land  good  for  a  longer  period  than  ten  years,  unless  it  be  a 
town  lot,  and  then  the  limit  is  twenty  years.  All  conveyances 


424  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

of  real  estate  are  placed  upon  record  in  a  Government  office, 
and  without  such  record  they  are  not  valid  as  against  persons 
not  parties  to  the  conveyance,  and  not  informed  of  its  exist- 
ence. 

§  352.  Separate  Property. — The  property  owned  by  either 
the  husband  or  wife  before  marriage,  and  by  gift,  bequest,  or 
inheritance  after  marriage,  belongs  to  each  separately  ;  and 
the  property  acquired  after  marriage  by  other  means  than 
gift,  bequest,  or  inheritance,  is  common  property,  belonging  in 
equal  shares  to  both.  The  husband,  however,  has  sole  control 
of  it.  The  wife  has  no  right  of  dower,  and  the  husband  has 
sole  control  of  the  common  property,  and  may  sell,  without 
the  consent  of  the  wife,  any  of  it  except  the  homestead ;  a 
deed  or  mortgage  for  which,  without  her  signature  and  seal,  is 
absolutely  void.  The  husband  cannot  convey  his  interest  un- 
less she  conveys  her  interest  at  the  same  time.  "  The  wife 
may,  without  the  consent  of  her  husband,  convey  her  separate 
property."  That  is  the  language  of  the  Code,  and  it  implies 
that  she  can  lease,  repair,  give  valid  receipts  for  rent,  bring 
suit  for  the  protection  of  her  title,  and  do  other  acts  that  re- 
quire less  power  than  does  a  sale. 

§  353.  Mining  Claims. — All  valuable  mineral  deposits  on 
land  belonging  to  the  United  States,  surveyed  or  unsurveyed, 
are  free  and  open  to  exploration  and  working  without  charge, 
and  also  to  purchase  by  any  citizen,  or  any  foreigner  who  has 
declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen.  Aliens  have  no 
right  to  take  up  mining  claims  or  to  purchase  laud  from  the 
Government,  but  they  can  hold  by  valid  title  when  they  pur- 
chase from  citizens.  Mining  claims  shall  be  governed  by  the 
conditions  prescribed  in  State  or  Territorial  legislation,  or  if 
there  be  none,  then  of  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  miners 
of  the  district ;  but  no  claim  must  exceed  fifteen  hundred  feet 
in  length,  whether  taken  up  by  a  person  or  a  company,  nor 
shall  the  width  be  more  than  three  hundred  feet,  or  less  than 
twenty-five  feet  on  each  side  of  any  lode. 


LAW.  425 

§  354.  Titles  to  Mines. — Any  person  or  company  holding 
a  valid  claim  to  a  lode  mine,  after  spending  $500  in  working 
it,  may  obtain  a  perfect  title  to  it,  by  patent,  from  the  Federal 
Land  Office,  on  paying  for  the  survey  and  for  the  land  at  the 
rate  of  $5  per  acre.  The  survey  should  not  follow  the  rectan- 
gular lines  adopted  in  the  agricultural  districts,  and  should  in- 
clude only  the  claim.  Titles  for  tracts  not  exceeding  five 
acres,  used  for  mills  or  dumps,  may  also  be  obtained  by 
patent.  Titles  for  placers  may  be  obtained  in  rectangular 
tracts  not  less  than  ten  acres  in  size,  conforming  to  the  gen- 
eral system  of  surveys ;  and  no  patent  shall  cover  more  than 
160  acres  of  mineral  land.  The  patent  issues  only  to  the 
holder  of  a  valid  placer  mining  claim,  who  has  spent  $500  in 
working  it,  and  he  must  pay  $2.50  an  acre  for  it. 

Grants  of  land  by  Mexico  did  not  carry  any  title  to  the 
minerals  under  the  law  of  that  country ;  but  the  patents  based 
on  Mexican  grants  issued  by  the  United  States  convey  the  ab- 
solute ownership  of  all  the  minerals. 

Title  to  water  can  be  acquired  by  appropriation  to  a  useful 
purpose,  at  least  of  all  the  water  on  land  belonging  to  the 
Federal  Government. 

§  355.  Laws  Favorable  to  Debtors. — The  laws  of  Califor- 
nia relating  to  the  collection  of  debts  are  very  favorable  to  the 
debtor.  His  homestead,  the  property  owned  by  his  wife  pre- 
vious to  marriage,  that  given  to  her  afterward,  his  household 
furniture  to  the  va)ue  of  two  hundred  dollars,  his  tools,  if  a 
mechanic,  his  horse  and  wagon,  if  a  teamster,  and  his  li- 
brary, if  a  lawyer,  are  exempt  from  execution.  A  married 
man,  a  widow  or  widower  with  children,  or  any  head  of  a 
family,  is  entitled  to  a  homestead  worth  five  thousand  dollars, 
secure  against  creditors.  An  unmarried  person  may  have  a 
homestead  worth  one  thousand  dollars.  Such  laws  may  pre- 
vent much  oppression  of  poor  people,  but  they  also  protect 
and  encourage  much  rascality.  A  man  may  own  a  homestead 
worth  five  thousand  dollars,  and  that  may  include  a  very  ele- 


426  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

gant  dwelling.  His  household  furniture,  worth  as  much  more, 
may  have  been  presented  by  some  friend  to  his  wife  after  mar- 
riage. She  may  have  a  separate  estate  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  may  derive  an  annual  income  of  ten  or 
twenty  thousand  dollars  from  it,  and  both  may  live  in  an  ex- 
travagant style,  and  yet  creditors  have  no  hold  upon  him 
whatever.  There  is  no  imprisonment  for  debt,  except  in  cases 
of  fraud,  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  prove.  In  many 
ways  the  debtor  is  fenced  about,  so  that  the  laws  seem  to  have 
been  devised  by  men  who  had  had  experience  in  swindling 
creditors,  and  wished  to  secure  themselves  against  trouble  in 
the  future. 

The  laws  of  California,  like  the  customs  and  trade,  do  not 
favor  the  perpetuation  of  wealth  in  families.  There  is  no 
right  of  primogeniture.  All  children  inherit  equally.  The 
eldest  son  gets  no  more  than  the  youngest.  Public  opin- 
ion runs  with  the  law.  The  rich  man  who  expressed  an 
intention  to  give  all  his  property  to  his  eldest  son,  merely  be- 
cause of  his  seniority,  would  be  hated.  Entails  are  forbidden. 
How  different  is  all  this  from  the  state  of  affairs  in  Europe  ! 
There,  at  least  in  some  countries,  all  the  property  goes  to  the 
eldest  son  ;  property  is  entailed  in  the  family  for  many  genera- 
tions ;  the  debtor  is  subject  to  imprisonment ;  there  is  no  re- 
lease for  insolvents  ;  the  property  of  the  woman  is  by  marriage 
vested  absolutely  in  the  husband,  and  does  not  revert  by  in- 
heritance to  her  blood  relatives  by  her  death  ;  the  limitations 
for  commencing  law-suits  are  very  long,  and  sales,  if  not 
made  at  the  market  price,  or  contracts,  if  made  so  that  one 
party  appears  to  have  obtained  an  advantage  of  the  other, 
may  be  rescinded.  The  habits  and  opinions  of  the  people 
give  strength  to  their  laws ;  and  wealth  once  in  a  family  is 
almost  as  certain  to  be  transmitted  through  many  generations 
by  inheritance  in  Europe,  as  its  loss  in  the  second  or  third  gen- 
eration is  certain  in  the  new  States  of  America. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES.  427 


CHAPTER  XTV. 
TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES. 

§  356.  New  Names. — The  topographical  names  of  Call- 
forma  differ  much  from  those  of  other  States  in  the  Union, 
where  there  is  a  disagreeable  repetition  of  familiar  names. 
Our  people  have  not  attempted  to  immortalize  Franklin,  Jef- 
ferson, Madison,  Adams,  Henry,  Randolph,  Clay,  Cass,  Ben- 
ton,  Webster,  Taylor,  Fillmore,  Polk,  Pierce,  or  Buchanan,  by 
affixing  their  tiresome  patronymics  to  counties  or  towns.  All 
our  prominent  places  are  designated  by  titles  comparatively 
new  to  the  English  language. 

The  topographical  names  of  the  State  are  derived  from  three 
languages — Spanish,  English,  and  Indian.  The  names  along 
the  southern  coast  and  about  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco — dis- 
tricts which  were  populated  by  the  Spaniards  long  before  the 
Americans  came  to  the  country — are  chiefly  Spanish.  The 
larger  rivers  in  the  Sacramento  basin  were  known  to  the 
Spaniards,  and  were  named  by  them  previous  to  1846.  The 
mining  districts  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Klamath  basin, 
and  the  coast  north  of  40°,  were  first  .explored  and  settled  by 
the  Americans,  and  therefore  the  names  are  of  English  origin. 
The  Indian  names  are  numerous. 

§  357.  Sacred  Spanish  Names. — The  Spanish  names  may 
be  divided  into  the  sacred  and  profane.  The  first  Spanish  set- 
tlers were  Catholic  missionaries,  in  whose  almanac  every  day 


428  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

is  named  after  some  saint,  and  in  whose  faith  the  saints  were 
but  little  below  divinity.  It  was  customary  for  them  to  keep 
the  saints  constantly  in  mind,  and  when  they  came  to  a 
strange  place,  to  name  it  after  the  saint  upon  whose  day  they 
had  reached  it.  Thus  it  is  that  nearly  all  the  settlements 
made  by  or  under  the  missionaries  are  sanctified. 

The  male  saints  have  "  San,"  the  females  "  Santa  "  to  pre- 
cede their  Christian  names,  as  in  English  we  have  "  Saint." 
Some  uneducated  Americans  corrupt  the  "  San  "  or  "Santa  " 
before  certain  Spanish  names  into  "  Saint,"  and  say  "  Saint 
Francisco."  But  the  more  intelligent  Americans  adhere  to 
the  Spanish  spelling,  and  generally  to  the  pronunciation.  The 
"  a  "  in  "  San,"  however,  is  usually  pronounced  like  the  "  a  " 
in  the  English  "  fat,"  while  the  Spanish  sound  is  more  like 
that  in  "  far,"  and  the  last  "  s  "  in  "  San  Jose  "  and  "  Santa 
Rosa,"  is  ordinarily  given  like  an  English  "  z  "  rather  than  a 
Spanish  "  s." 

The  Missions  were  all  named  from  saints  or  sacred  dogmas. 
There  are  San  Miguel,  San  Gabriel,  and  San  Rafael  (from  the 
three  archangels,  Michael,  Gabriel,  and  Raphael),  San  Juan 
Bautista  and  San  Juan  Capistrano  (St.  John  the  Baptist  and 
St.  John  of  Capistrano),  San  Francisco  de  Assisi  and  San 
Francisco  de  Solano,  San  Luis  Rey  and  San  Luis  Obispo  (St. 
Louis  the  king  and  St.  Louis  the  bishop),  San  Carlos,  Santa 
Clara,  Santa  Barbara,  San  Jose  (St.  Joseph),  Santa  Inez  Vir- 
gen  y  Martyr  (St.  Inez  the  virgin  and  martyr),  San  Antonio 
de  Padua  (St.  Anthony) ,  San  Fernando  Rey  (St.  Ferdinand 
the  king),  San  Buenaventura,  La  Purisima  Concepcion  (the 
Most  Pure  Conception),  Nuestra  Seiiora  de  Soledad  (our 
Lady  of  Solitude),  San  Diego  (St.  James),  and  Santa  Cruz 
(the  Holy  Cross). 

Among  the  saints  whose  names  are  applied  to  places  not 
missions,  are  San  Pedro  (Peter),  San  Pablo  (Paul),  San  Mateo 
(Matthew),  San  Andres  (Andrew),  San  Marcos  (Mark),  San 
Simeon,  San  Joaquin  (Joachim),  San  Nicolas,  San  Clemente, 


TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES.  429 

San  Lorenzo  (Lawrence),  San  Leandro  (Leander),  San  Pascual, 
San  Ramon,  San  Felipe  (Philip),  San  Cayetano  (Cayetan), 
Santa  Marta  (Martha),  Santa  Maria,  Santa  Paula  (Pauline), 
Santa  Rosa,  Santa  Isabel,  Santa  Margarita,  Santa  Catalina, 
Santa  Susana,  Santa  Lucia,  and  Santa  Gertrudis.  Other  Span- 
ish  sacred  names,  not  derived  from  saints,  are  Trinidad 
(Trinity),  Sacramento  (Sacrament),  Jesus  Maria  (Jesus  the 
Son  of  Mary),  and  Nuestra  Sefiora  La  Reina  de  los  Angeles 
(Our  Lady  the  Queen  of  the  Angels). 

§  358.  Profane  Spanish  Names. — Among  the  Spanish  pro- 
fane names  are  Agua  Fria  (cold  water),  Agua  Caliente  (hot 
water,  or  warm  spring),  Vallecito  (little  valley),  Esperanza 
(hope),  Campo  Seco  (dry  field),  Garrote,  Hornitos  (little  oven), 
Salinas  (salt  places),  Alameda  (an  avenue  of  elms  or  cotton- 
wood  trees),  Saucelito  (a  little  clump  of  willows,  more  properly 
spelled  Sauzalito),Laguna  Seca  (dry  lagoon),  Cienega  (puddle), 
Merced  (mercy),  Buena  Vista  (good  view),  Contra  Costa  (the 
opposite  coast,  the  shore  opposite  the  bay  of  San  Francisco), 
Del  Norte  (of  the  north),  Plumas  (feathers),  Tulare  (a  place  of 
tules),  El  Dorado  (the  golden  land),  Fresno  (ash),  Nevada 
(snowy),  Sierra  (mountain  chain),  Placer  (gold  diggings), 
Calaveras  (skulls),  Mariposa  (butterfly),  Alcatraz  (pelican), 
Farallones  (points  of  rock  in  the  sea),  Corte  Madera  (place 
where  wood  is  cut),  Monte  (the  mountain  or  forest),  Loma 
Prieta  (black  hill),  Monte  Diablo  (the  devil's  mountain), 
Montecito  (little  mountain  or  little  forest),  Alamo  (elm  or  cot- 
tonwood  tree),  Alamo  Mocho  (the  cropped  cotton  wood),  Pajaro 
(bird),  Coyote,  and  Tejon  (a  badger).  Some  of  these  names 
have  been  changed  by  the  Americans.  The  Spaniards  say, 
el  Rio  de  las  Mariposas  (the  river  of  the  butterflies),  el  Rio  de 
las  Calaveras,  el  Rio  de  los  Pajaros,  la  Isla  de  las  Alca traces, 
la  Bahia  de  San  Francisco  (the  bay  of  San  Francisco),  La 
Mision  de  San  Gabriel  (the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel),  el  Rio  de 
las  Salinas.  The  Americans  drop  the  common  Spanish  nouns 
of  rio,  bahia,  and  mision,  and  say  Calaveras  River,  Salinas 


430  RESOURCES   OP   CALIFORNIA. 

River,  the  Mission  San  Gabriel,  etc.  Though  the  plural  form 
of  Calaveras  and  Salinas  has  been  preserved,  the  singular  has 
been  adopted  for  Pajaro  River,  Alcatraz  Island,  and  Coyote 
Creek.  Pajaro  River  was  so  named  because  of  the  great 
number  of  wild  geese  and  ducks  which  were  formerly  seen 
in  its'  valley.  Bodega  was  named  after  a  Spanish  navi- 
gator on  this  Coast;  Cape  Mendocino  after  the  noble  pat- 
ron of  another.  *  Amador  County  and  Amador  Valley  were 
named  after  Jose*  M.  Amador,  who  was  manager  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Mission  of  San  Jose",  about  1835.  He  lived  in  Am- 
ador Valley,  and  in  1848  he  went  with  a  number  of  Indians  to 
mine  in  what  is  now  Amador  County.  Vallejo,  Pacheco, 
Martinez,  and  Alvarado,  are  the  names  of  prominent  men 
among  the  Spanish  Californians.  Some  Spanish  names  have 
been  changed  into  English.  The  American  River  was  formerly 
called  el  Rio  de  los  Americanos,  because  the  Americans  enter- 
ing California  usually  came  down  the  banks  of  that  stream. 
The  Feather  River  was  called  el  Rio  de  las  Plumas,  the  river 
of  feathers.  The  "  Plumas,"  after  having  been  abandoned  as 
a  designation  for  the  river,  was  given  to  the  county  in  which 
it  takes  its  rise.  Angel  Island  was  called  la  Isla  de  los 
Angeles,  and  Mare  Island  was  called  la  Isla  de  las  Yeguas. 
The  town  of  Benicia  was  laid  off  in  1846,  and  was  first  called 
"  Francesca,"  one  pf  the  Christian  names  of  the  wife  of  M.  G. 
Vallejo,  on  whose  land  the  town  was  to  be  built ;  but  in  Janu- 
ary, 1847,  the  name  of  the  town  of  Yerba  Buena  was  changed 
to  San  Francisco,  and  the  projector  of  Benicia,  Mr.  Charles 
D.  Semple,  thought  it  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding 
confusion,  to  change  the  name  of  his  city  on  paper,  so  he 
adopted  "  Benicia,"  another  name  of  Mrs.  Vallejo.  The  town 
of  Sonora  was  so  named  because  the  majority  of  the  first 
miners  there  were  from  Sonora.  The  New  Almaden  quicksil- 
ver mine,  for  some  months  after  the  nature  of  the  ore  was 
discovered,  was  called  la  Mina  de  Santa  Clara.  Its  present 
name  was  derived  from  the  great  quicksilver  mine  oi  Alma- 
den,  in  old  Spain. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL  NAMES.  431 

§  359.  Indian  Names.— The  Indian  names  in  California 
are  numerous.  Among  them  are  Siskiyou,  Klamath,  Shasta, 
Tehama,  Colusa,  Yolo,  Napa,  Sonoma,  Mokelumne,  Tuolumne, 
Inyo,  Mono,  Chowchilla,  Cahuilla,  Tahoe,  Saticoy,  Hueneme 
(called  also  Wynema),  Suscol,  Suisun,  Cosumnes,  Temecula, 
Temascal,  Jurupa,  Petal uma,  Tomales,  Yreka,  Ukiah,  Guy- 
ama,  Cocomonga,  Mayacmas,  Bolbones,  Guilicos,  Huichica, 
and  Hoopah.  Most  of  these  are  the  names  of  tribes  of  In- 
dians. The  Mokelumne,  Tuolumne,  Chowchilla,  and  Cosum- 
nes Rivers  were  called  by  the  Spaniards  el  Rio  de  los  Moque- 
lumnes,  el  Rio  de  los  Tuolumnes,  etc.  The  second  syllable  ot 
Moquelumne  was  changed  by  the  Americans,  to  be  spelled 
with  a  k,  which  has  the  same  sound  as  qu  before  e  in  Spanish. 
Cahuilla  is  sometimes  vulgarly  spelled  "  Kaweah  "  by  Ameri- 
cans, who  thus  represent  the  Spanish  pronunciation  as  nearly 
as  possible.  Klamath  and  Shasta  were  formerly  written  "  Tla- 
math "  and  "  Tshastl."  Sonoma,  by  some  persons  written 
"  Zonoma"  in  early  times,  is  an  Indian  word  meaning  "  valley 
of  the  moon."  Temascal  means  an  Indian  sweat-house.  So- 
lano  is  a  Spanish  word  meaning  the  south  wind,  but  Solano 
County  was  so  called  after  the  chief  of  the  Suisun  tribe  of 
Indians.  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn  whether  his  name  was 
given  to  him  by  the  Spaniards,  or  was  of  Indian  origin. 
Marin  County  was  also  named  after  an  Indian  chief.  Yreka 
is  a  corruption  of  Wi-e-kah,  which  means  white,  and  is  the  In- 
dian name  of  Mount  Shasta,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  town  is 
situated. 

§  3150.  American  Names. — Now  we  come  to  the  American 
names.  Towns  are  named  after  Jackson,  Washington,  Lafay- 
ette, and  Stockton  (the  last  was  in  command  of  the  American 
navy  on  this  Coast  during  the  Mexican  war).  The  patronym- 
ics of  Alexander  Humboldt,  J.  A.  Sutter,  Kern,  and  Peter 
Lassen,  are  affixed  to  counties.  Trinity  River  was  so  named 
because  the  white  man  who  discovered  it  in  the  mountains 
supposed  it  emptied  into  the  bay  of  Trinidad,  which  had  been 


432  RESOURCES    OF   CALIFORNIA. 

discovered  by  the  Spaniards  several  centuries  ago.  Marysville 
was  first  called  Yubaville,  and  then  named  after  Mrs.  Mary 
Covillaud,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  place.  Among  the 
pioneer  miners  of  Calaveras  County  were  Murphy,  Angel,  and 
Carson,  and  they  became  the  eponyms  of  the  places  where  they 
stopped,  tirst  called  Murphy's  Camp,  Angel's  Camp,  and 
Carson's  Camp,  now  become  permanent  towns,  which  Jiave 
discarded  the  "  camp,"  and  assumed  the  titles,  "  Murphy's," 
"  Angel's,"  etc.  It  is  better  to  drop  the  s  and  the  apostrophe, 
as  is  sometimes  done.  "  Yankee  Jim's  Camp  " — the  surname 
of  "  Jim  "  was  never  known  to  the  general  public — is  now 
simply  Yankee  Jim.  Messrs.  Dovvnie,  Weaver,  and  Heald 
were  the  respective  eponyms  of  Downieville,  Weaverville,  and 
Healdsburg  ;  and  Folsom,  Gilroy,  and  Hollister  were  named 
after  the  owners  of  the  respective  ranchos  on  which  they  were 
laid  out.  The  knowledge  or  supposition  of  rich  diggings  is 
indicated  by  some  of  the  names  of  towns,  as  Ophir,  Gold  Hill, 
Quartzburg,  Placerville,  Oroville,  Rich  Bar,  and  Tin  Cup. 
Placerville  was,  in  1849,  called  Hangtown,  because  it  was  the 
first  place  where  any  person  was  hanged  by  Lynch  law.  Oroville 
is  a  compound  of  oro,  the  Spanish  word  for  gold,  and  ville, 
the  French  word  for  city.  Tin  Cup  was  so  named  because 
the  first  miners  there  found  the  placers  so  rich  that  they  meas- 
sured  their  gold  in  pint  tin  cups.  Many  of  the  bars  and  camps 
in  the  mining  districts  are  named  after  the  discoverers  or  first 
settlers.  There  are  Scott's  Bar,  Long's  Bar,  Kelly's  Bar, 
Kanaka  Bar,  Negro  Bar,  Chinese  Camp,  etc.  Other  places 
are  named  from  the  native  places  of  the  first  settlers,  as  Mis- 
sissippi Bar,  Ohio  Bar,  Iowa  Hill,  Michigan  Bluffs,  Illinoistown, 
Alleghanytown,  etc.  Pine  Log  is  so  named  because  there  was, 
in  early  times,  at  that  place  a  pine  log  across  the  South  Fork  of 
the  Stanislaus  River,  in  such  a  position  as  to  offer  a  very  con- 
venient crossing  to  miners.  Some  of  'the  mining  camps  are 
named  from  the  tragic  events  which  occurred  there :  thus, 
there  is  a  Murderer's  Bar,  a  Dead  Man's  Bar,  and  a  Dead  Shot 


TOPOGRAPHICAL   NAMES. 


433 


Flat.     The  following  is  a  list  of  some  curious  names  of  mining 
localities  : 


Jim  Crow  Canon, 
Red  Dog-, 
Jackass  Gulch, 
Ladies'  Canon, 
Miller's  Defeat, 
Loafer  Hill, 
Rattlesnake  Bar, 
Whisky  Bar, 
Poverty  Hill, 
Greasers'  Camp, 
Christian  Flat, 
Rough  and  Ready, 
Ragtown, 
Sugar-Loaf  Hill, 
Poker  Flat, 
Wild-Cat  Bar, 
Dead  Mule  Canon, 
Wild  Goose  Flat, 
Brandy  Flat, 
Gridiron  Bar, 
Hen-roost  Camp, 
Lousy  Ravine, 
Lazy  Man  s  Canon, 
Logtown, 
Git-up-and-git, 
Gopher  Flat, 
Bob  Ridley  Flat, 
One  Eye, 
Push-coach  Hill, 
Puppy  town, 
Mad  Canon, 
Happy  Valley, 
Hell's  Delight, 


Davil's  Basin, 
Dead  Wood, 
Gouge  Eye, 
Puke  Ravine, 
Slap- Jack  Bar, 
Quack  Hill, 
Pepperbox  Flat, 
Nigger  Hill, 
Seventy-six, 
Piety  Hill, 
Hr>  VH  Diggings, 
Brandy  Gulch, 
Liberty  Hill, 
Love-Letter  Camp, 
Paradise, 

Blue  Belly  Ravine, 
Sluice  Fork, 
Shinbone  Peak, 
Soven--up  Ravine, 
Loafer's  Retreat, 
Humpback  Slide, 
Swellhead  Diggings, 
Coyote  Hill, 
Poodletown, 
Yankee  Doodle, 
Horsetown, 
Petticoat  Slide, 
Chucklehead  Diggings, 
Mount  Zion, 
Barefoot  Diggings, 
Plug-head  Gulch, 
Ground  Hogs'  Glory, 
Bogus  Thunder, 


Last  Chance, 
Greenhorn  Canon, 
Shanghai  Hill, 
Shirt-tail  Canon, 
Skunk  Gulch, 
Coon  Hollow, 
Poor  Man's  Creek, 
Humbug  Canon, 
Bloomer  Hill, 
Grizzly  Flat, 
Rat-trap  Slide, 
Pike  Hill, 
Port  Wine, 
Snow  Point, 
Nary  Red, 
Gas  Hill, 
Ladies'  Valley, 
Graveyard  Canon, 
Gospel  Gulch, 
Chicken-Thief  Flat, 
Hungry  Camp, 
Mud  Springs, 
Skinflint, 
American  Hollow, 
Gold  Hill, 
Pancake  Ravine, 
Centipede  Hollow, 
Nutcake  Camp, 
Seven-by-nine  Valley, 
Paint-Pot  Hill, 
Gospel  Swamp. 


The  Legislature  in  1864  granted  a  franchise  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  toll-road  from  Pokerville  to  Fiddletown  in  Amador 
County. 

Butte  County  was  named  from  the  buttes  or  high  hills  on  its 
border.  Cache  Creek  was  so  called  because  some  trappers 
28 


434  RESOURCES   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

buried  or  cached  something  on  its -banks  many  years  ago. 
Suite  and  cache  are  words  of  French  origin,  introduced  into 
the  English  language  by  trappers. 

Anaheim  is  derived  from  Ana  the  Spanish  for  Ann,  and  the 
German  word  helm,  meaning  home — and  the  compound  means 
Anna's  home.  The  Ana  was  suggested  by  the  Santa  Ana 
Valley,  in  which  Anaheim  is  built. 

§  361 .  Etymology  of  California.— The  name  "  California," 
first  used  in  an  obscure  Spanish  novel,  Las  Sergas  de  Esplan- 
dian,  published  in  1510,  was  there  applied  to  an  island  "  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  Indies  near  the  Terrestrial  Paradise.'* 
Twenty-five  years  later  Cortez  discovered  the  peninsula,  and 
gave  it  the  name  of  California.  After  1769,  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment recognized  two  Californias,  Vieja  or  Baja,  (old  or 
low)  California,  and  Nueva  or  Alta,  (new  or  high)  Califor- 
nia. The  latter  was  conquered  by  the  Americans  in  1846,  and 
was  called  "  Alta  California,"  until  after  the  gold  discovery, 
and  then  simply  "  California,"  when  the  peninsula  fell  into  rel- 
ative insignificance.  The  State  Constitution,  framed  in  1849, 
commences,  "  We,  the  people  of  California,"  etc.  This,  there- 
fore, is  the  California,  and  the  peninsula  south  of  us  is  not 
meant  or  thought  of,  unless  we  use  the  adjective  prefix,  and 
say  "  Lower  California."  "  Southern  California  "  usually 
means  that  part  of  American  California  south  of  latitude 
34°  30'. 

§  362.  Pronunciation  of  Names. — In  the  pronunciation 
of  the  names  of  Spanish  and  Indian  origin,  the  letters  have 
usually  the  Spanish  sounds.  A  is  like  "  a  "  in  far ;  e  like  "  a  " 
in  fare ;  i  like  "  ee  "  in  meet ;  o  like  "  o  "  in  go  ;  u  like  "  oo  " 
in  fool.  J^Tis  silent ;  j  and  <?,  before  e  and  i,  have  a  sound 
similar  to  that  of  the  English  "  h  "  ;  s  never  has  the  sound  of 
2,  but  is  always  like  "  ss  "  in  hiss.  Qu,  before  e  and  i,  is  like  "  k." 
U,  is  like  "  lli "  in  William ;  n  is  like  "  ni  "  in  union.  There 
are  no  diphthongs  in  Spanish.  Every  vowel  is  sounded  sepa- 
rately. Words  ending  in  a  vowel  in  the  singular  have  the  ac- 


TOPOGRAPHICAL   NAMES. 


435 


cent  on  the  syllable  next  the  last ;  those  ending  in  a  consonant, 
on  the  last.  In  case  any  vowel  lias  an  accent  marked  over  it, 
then  that  vowel  lias  the  accent.  The  Spaniards  of  old  Spain 
pronounce  the  z  before  all  vowel",  arid  the  c  before  e  and 
t,  like  "  th  "  in  thick  ;  but  the  Mexicans  give  them  the  sound 
of  s. 

The  errors  which  Americans  most  frequently  commit  in 
pronouncing  Spanish  words  are,  in  giving  to  a  the  English 
sounds  of  "  a  "  in  fat  and  fate  ;  giving  to  *  the  sound  of  "  z  "  ; 
to^'  and  /7,  before  e  and  »,  the  Fame  sounds  as  in  English  ;  to 
gu  the  sound  of  the  English  "  w  "  ;  and  in  putting  the  accent 
on  tlie  first  syllable — English  fashion.  The  following  may 
serve  as  a  further  guide  to  the  proper  pronunciation  of  some 
of  the  names : 


SPANISH  NAMES  AND  PRONUNCIATIONS. 

Napa — nah  pah. 

Jose— ho  say. 

Jesus  Maria — hay  BOOS  mah  ree"  ah. 

Puta — poo  tah. 

Tejou — tay  hone. 

Farallones — fah  rahl  y<5  nes. 

Gabriel — gah  bree  ale. 

Rafael — rah  fah  ale. 

Miguel — mee  gale. 

P.ijaro — pah  hah  ro. 

Coyote — co  yo  tay. 

Pacheco — pah  ch.ly  co. 

Cahuilla — cah  oo  eel  ya. 

Hueneme — way  nay  may. 

Dos  Pueblos — doha  pway  bios. 


Diego — dee  ay  go. 

Suisun — xoo  ee  soon. 

Alaraeda — ah  lah  may  da. 

Sierra — soe  er  ra. 

Nevada — nay  vah  dah. 

Mateo — mah  tay  o. 

Monterey — mon  ta  ray  ee. 

Luis  Obispo — loo  6ss  o  bees  po. 

Los  Angeles — lohs  ahn  hel  es. 

Vallejo — val  yay  ho. 

Vallecito — val  yay  thee  to. 

Joaquin — ho  ah  keen. 

Juan  Bautista — hwahn  bah  oot£es- 

tah. 
Tamalpais — tah  mal  pice. 


Nietos — nee  ay  tos. 

This  table  is  not  a  perfect  guide  to  pronunciation,  but  only 
an  approximation. 

Plater  has  been  anglicized  so  much  that  it  is  commonly 
spoken  with  the  accent  on  the  first  syllable.  Mokelumme  and 
Tuolumne  hav%  the  accent  on  the  antepenultimate,  ami  the 
vowel  short.  Siskiyou  has  the  accent  on  the  tirst  syllable. 


436  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Sutter  is  pronounced  with  the  u  like  "  oo  "  in  foot.  Mokel- 
umne  is  often  mispronounced  "  Mac  al  a  my,"  and  the  Cosum- 
nes  River  is  not  unfrequently  called  the  Macosme.  Folsom 
is  pronounced  like  the  adjective  fulsome.  Yosemite  has  four 
syllables  with  the  accent  on  the  antepenultimate  (Yo  sem  i  te). 
San  Rafael  is  usually  called  "San  Rah  fell,"  Tehama  "  Te- 
hay  ma." 

§  3  63.  Erroneous  Spelling. — The  maps  issued  by  the  Federal 
Surveyor  General's  office  have  abounded  with  errors  of  spell- 
ing, chargeable  to  gross  ignorance  and  carelessness.  The 
publications  of  the  State  Geological  Survey  have  a  few. 
Whitney  writes  "  Tamal  Pais "  instead  of  Tamalpais,  and 
"  Hetch-hetchy"  instead  of  Hetchhetchy.  The  hyphen  in 
Indian  names  is  an  absurdity,  and  has  been  abandoned  in 
Tecumseh  and  Yosemite,  and  other  words  in  common  use. 
"  Pais "  in  Spanish  means  county,  and  Marin  County  was 
formerly  occupied  by  the  Tamal  tribe  of  Indians,  and  there- 
fore it  is  supposed  that  the  mountain  should,  out  of  respect  for 
the  Spanish  language,  be  called  "  Tamal  Pais."  But  the  Spani- 
ards united  the  two  words,  and  instead  of  using  pais  separately, 
they  would  say  "  el  pais  de  los  Tamales"  A  common  error 
of  writers  ignorant  of  Spanish  is  to  say  "  the  sierras."  This,  as 
applied  to  the  Sierra  Nevada,  is  equivalent  to  speaking  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Chains.  There  is  only  one  sierra  in  California. 


CONCLUSION.  437 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CONCLUSION". 

§  364.  General  Summary. — Twelve  chapters  of  this  book 
have  been  filled  with  a  detailed  statement  of  the  nature  and 
characteristics  of  the  resources,  industry,  trade,  and  society  of 
CALIFOENIA.  In  this  chapter,  I  shall  present  a  summary  of 
their  main  features. 

We  have,  then,  before  us  a  State  lying  in  the  midst  of  the 
temperate  zone,  on  the  western  coast  of  North  America; 
bounded  on  one  side  by  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  on  the  other 
by  a  high  range  of  mountains ;  reaching  through  nine  degrees 
of  longitude  and  ten  of  latitude;  with  a  coast-line  1,097  miles 
long,  and  a  total  area  of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand square  miles.  The  heart  of  the  State  is  drained  by  two 
large  rivers,  which  run  from  north  and  south,  unite  midway, 
and  in  their  course  to  the  sea  form  three  large  and  deep  bays, 
with  secure  and  spacious  harbors.  On  these  bays  and  their 
tributaries,  there  are  nearly  one  thousand  miles  of  navigable 
streams  now  used  by  steamboats  and  sailing-vessels. 

The  climate  near  the  ocean  is  the  most  equable  in  the  world. 
At  San  Francisco,  there  is  a  difference  of  only  seven  degrees 
between  the  mean  temperatures  of  summer  and  winter — the 
average  of  the  latter  season  being  50°  and  of  the  former  57° 
Fahrenheit.  Ice  and  snow  are  never  seen  in  winter;  and  in 
summer  the  weather  is  so  cool,  that  heavy  woolen  clothing  is 


438  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

worn  every  day.  There  are  not  more  than  a  dozen  days  in 
the  year  too  warm  for  comfort  at  mid-day,  and  the  oldest 
inhabitant  cannot  remember  a  night  when  blankets  were  not 
necessary  for  a  comfortable  sleep.  The  climate  is  just  of  that 
character  most  favorable  to  the  constant  mental  and  physical 
activity  of  men,  and  to  the  unvarying  health  and  continuous 
growth  of  animals  and  plants.  In  the  interior,  the  summers 
are  much  warmer  than  near  the  ocean ;  while  in  the  moun- 
tains the  winters  are  much  colder.  By  traveling  a  few  hun- 
dred miles,  the  Californian  can  find  almost  any  temperature 
that  he  may  desire — great  warmth  in  winter,  and  icy  coldness 
in  summer. 

The  rocks  of  this  State  are  chiefly  granite  and  slate  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  and  cretaceous  and  tertiary  sandstone  in  the 
Coast  Range  and  valleys.  Veins  of  auriferous  quartz  are 
numerous  in  the  State  near  the  granite,  and  they  have  sup- 
plied by  erosion  the  gold  now  found  in  the  placers  or  alluvial 
workings.  Gold  has  been  found  in  nearly  every  county  ;  but 
the  districts  which  are  or  have  been  rich  in  auriferous  de- 
posits, cover  an  area  of  10,000  'square  miles.  The  annual 
gold  yield  of  California  is  about  $20,000,000. 

The  gold-mining  of  California  is  conducted  in  the  most 
thorough  and  enterprising  manner.  Although  the  main  prin- 
ciples of  the  sluice  and  the  hydraulic  washing  were  known 
and  used,  on  a  small  scale,  long  before  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California,  it  was  here  that  those  modes  of  working  were 
first  perfected,  applied  on  an  extensive  scale,  and  brought  into 
universal  use.  Large  rivers  are  turned  out  of  their  beds  ; 
mountains  are  pierced  by  tunnels ;  hills  are  washed  away ; 
and  the  rivers  roll  thick  with  mud  to  the  sea  through  summer 
and  winter. 

The  State  has  rich  and  productive  mines  of  silver  and  quick- 
silver ;  valuable  beds  of  borax,  sulphur,  asphaltum,  and  fire 
olay  ;  and  numerous  mineral  springs  of  powerful  medicinal 
qualities. 


CONCLUSION.  439 

The  natural  scenery  of  California  is  varied  and  grand.  The 
Yosemite  Valley  is  a  chasm  ten  miles  long,  a  mile  wide,  and 
three  thousand  feet  deep,  in  the  heart  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
without  its  equal  in  the  world  for  sublime  and  picturesque 
scenery.  It  has  a  dozen  great  cascades,  the  highest  of  which 
has  a  fall  of  thirteen  hundred  feet.  The  Mammoth  Trees 
are  the  largest  growths  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  There 
are  likewise  in  the  State  mud-volcanoes,  natural  bridges, 
many  caves,  and  numerous  hot  and  mineral  springs,  some  of 
which  throw  out  great  columns  of  steam.  The  Californian 
Alps  have  a  hundred  peaks  that  rise  to  an  elevation  of  more 
than  10,000  feet,  and  contain  much  scenery  equaling,  if  not 
surpassing,  any  in  Switzerland.  Mt.  Shasta  is  grandest  of 
all  the  high,  snow-covered  volcanic  peaks  conveniently  acces- 
sible to  travel ;  and  it  has  a  great  glacier.  The  view  from 
Mt.  Diablo  is  unparalleled  for  the  richness  and  beauty  of  the 
country  distinctly  visible. 

The  animals  and  plants  of  California  are  peculiar  to  our 
coast.  The  finest  group  of  coniferous  trees  in  the  world  is 
that  of  this  State.  The  mammoth  tree,  the  redwood,  the 
sugar-pine,  the  red  fir,  the  yellow  fir,  and  the  arbor  vitce,  all 
reach  the  wonderful  height  of  three  hundred  feet ;  the  mam- 
moth tree  grows  to  be  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  the  redwood 
twenty,  and  the  others  from  eight  to  twelve. 

The  grizzly  bear  is  the  largest  and  strongest  indigenous 
animal  of  the  continent ;  and  the  Californian  vulture  is,  next 
to  the  condor,  the  largest  bird  that  flies.  The  sea  near  our 
coast  teems  with  halibut,  turbot,  mackerel,  herring,  sardines, 
anchovies,  and  smelts ;  while  sturgeon  and  salmon  are  abun- 
dant in  our  rivers. 

Farmers  in  California  have  many  advantages  over  men  of 
the  same  occupation  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States.  The 
winter  is  never  so  cold  as  to  interrupt  their  work,  and  there 
are  no  storms  of  rain  and  hail  to  destroy  their  grain  and  ruin 
their  hay.  They  need  no  barns.  Barley  thrives  better  than 


440  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  soil  and  climate  are  also 
particularly  favorable  to  the  growth  of  wheat,  which  unites 
the  valuable  qualities  of  whiteness,  dryness,  and  glutinous- 
ness,  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  other  wheat  in  the  world. 
Our  average  crops  are  larger  than  in  any  other  place  where 
manure  is  not  used  extensively.  The  yield  of  hops  is  large, 
and  the  facilities  for  drying  them,  so  as  to  preserve  their 
strength,  are  better  than  in  any  other  land  where  they  are 
cultivated.  Our  kitchen  vegetables  grow  to  an  unparalleled 
size.  Nowhere  else  have  pumpkins  been  seen  to  reach  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  in  weight  each,  beets  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds,  white  turnips  twenty-six  pounds,  solid-headed 
cabbages  seventy-five  pounds,  carrots  ten  pounds,  water-mel- 
ons sixty-five  pounds,  onions  forty-seven  ounces,  Irish  potatoes 
seven  pounds,  sweet  potatoes  fifteen  pounds,  and  so  forth.  Some 
cabbages  and  beets  have  spontaneously  become  perennials  here, 
continuing  to  grow  from  year  to  year,  and  remaining  green 
throughout  winter  and  summer;  and  many  of  our  kitchen 
vegetables  might  be  converted  into  perennials  by  preventing 
them  from  going  to  seed. 

The  abundance,  excellence,  and  variety  of  our  fruit  astonish 
the  stranger,  though  he*  may  have  come  from  the  markets  of 
London  or  New  York,  which  draw  tribute  from  whole  hemi- 
spheres. No  market  on  the  globe  surpasses  ours  in  variety, 
yet  only  twenty  years  since  we  began  to  import  fruit  trees  di- 
rect from  the  Eastern  States  and  Europe.  Our  mild  winters 
permit  the  trees  to  grow  during  nine  or  ten  months  in  the 
year,  and  they  grow  more  rapidly,  and  reach  maturity  more 
speedily,  than  in  any  other  country  where  they  are  so  healthy, 
and  bear  so  abundantly.  The  pear  and  apple  trees  which  were 
planted  by  the  missionaries  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  are  still 
in  perfect  health,  and  some  of  them  produce  as  much  as  a  ton 
of  fruit  to  the  tree  every  year.  The  apple  and  pear  seem  to 
have  found  here  their  most  congenial  clime.  There  are  no 
worms  in  our  apples ;  no  curculios  in  our  plums  or  cherries ; 


CONCLUSION.  441 

no  Hessian  fly  or  weevil  in  our  wheat.  The  olive  and  the  fig 
grow  luxuriantly  beside  the  apple  and  the  pear.  We  can  pro- 
duce olives  better  than  any  of  the  olive-producing  regions  of 
the  Mediterranean,  because  we  have  none  of  those  storms  of 
thunder  and  hail  and  rain,  which  frequently  destroy  the  crops 
in  southern  Europe  and  Asia  Minor.  The  vine  produces  more 
abundantly  than  in  any  part  of  Europe,  and  the  crop  has  sel- 
dom failed  or  been  destroyed  here,  as  often  happens  there.  A 
yield  of  one  thousand  gallons  of  wine  to  the  acre  is  as  frequent, 
proportionately,  in  California,  as  of  four  hundred  in  France  or 
Germany.  Our  gardens  are,  in  time,  to  be  the  most  beautiful 
in  the  world,  resplendent  with  conifers  and  deciduous  trees, 
with  the  flowers  of  the  temperate  zone,  and  the  luxurious  plants 
of  the  tropics.  The  shrubs,  which  in  New  York  remain  small, 
and  live  only  under  shelter  as  delicate  exotics,  are  naturalized 
in  San  Francisco,  grow  almost  to  tree-like  size,  remain  green 
throughout  the  year,  and  bloom  during  most  of  the  months. 
The  rosebush  is  covered  with  flowers  from  January  to  Decem- 
ber. 

Domestic  herbivorous  animals  live  and  increase  without 
shelter,  and  without  cultivated  food,  ^hey  reach  their  full 
growth  a  year  earlier  than  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  absence 
of  extreme  cold  gives  them  a  more  rapid  growth,  and  exemp- 
tion from  many  diseases.  Sheep  produce  more  wool,  are 
healthier,  increase  more  rapidly,  and  are  kept  at  far  less  cost 
in  California  than  in  any  American  State  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Bees  increase  more  rapidly,  and  make  more 
honey  here  than  there  is  any  record  of  their  doing  elsewhere. 
Thunder  and  rain  storms  kill  a  large  proportion  of  the  silk- 
worms in  Italy,  France,  Turkey,  and  China  every  year ;  in 
the  valleys  of  California  we  never  have  any  lightning,  and  no 
rain  during  the  season  when  the  silk-worms  feed. 

The  wages  of  labor  in  California  are  higher  than  in  any 
other  part  <>f  the  world.  Mechanics'  wages  are  generally 
from  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  to  four  dollars  per  day ;  com- 


442  RESOURCES   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

mon  laborers,  from  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents  to  two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  day ;  farm  laborers,  and  men  and 
maid  servants,  from  twenty  to  thirty  dollars  per  month.  Our 
imports  and  exports  of  treasure  are  larger  in  proportion  to  our 
population  than  those  of  any  other  State.  Our  chief  city  has 
an  extensive  foreign  trade  and  commerce,  and  it  has  an  un- 
doubted supremacy  in  the  commerce  of  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Pacific. 

§  365.  Slow  Growth. — With  many  drawbacks,  which  have 
been  set  forth  clearly  and  unreservedly,  California  is  one  of 
the  richest  parts  of  the  globe.  It  possesses  most  of  the  lux- 
uries of  Europe,  and  many  of  the  advantages  which  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Ohio  had  forty  years  ago.  It  offers  an  open  career 
to  talents.  In  a  few  years  of  its  history  it.  has  astonished  the 
world,  and  its  chief  glories  are  still  to  come.  The  arts,  the 
sciences,  the  refinements  of  life,  are  to  find  a  favored  home  in 
California. 

Why  is  it  then  that  the  permanent  population  of  the  State 
has  not  increased  more  rapidly  ?  Why  did  so  many  of  the 
early  immigrants  leave  her  shores,  never  to  return,  by  their 
departure  depriving  her  of  the  greatest  element  of  wealth  ? 
The  great  cause  was  the  mismanagement  of  land-titles,  in 
both  the  agricultural  and  mineral  regions,  by  the  Federal 
Government ;  and  myriads  of  men,  unable  to  secure  homes, 
went  to  the  Eastern  States,  where  they  could  find  permanent 
residences. 

The  unsettled  condition  of  society  here,  resulting  from  the 
insecurity  of  land-titles,  the  great  expense  of  bringing  families 
from  the  Eastern  States,  the  uncertainty  of  the  crops  in  the 
drier  valleys,  the  scarcity  of  irrigating  canals  and  of  reclama- 
tion dikes,  all  contributed  to  prevent  such  an  increase  of  popu- 
lation as  the  natural  resources  of  the  State,  if  properly  de- 
veloped, would  have  demanded. 

§  366.  The  Future.— The  growth  of  California  must  be 
constant,  and  her  future  great  and  glorious.  If  sky  and  earth 


CONCLUSION.  443 

and  man  remain  the  same,  her  attractions  cannot  be  neglect- 
ed. Her  progress  may  be  relatively  slow,  until  some  of  her 
large,  dry  valleys  shall  be  provided  with  irrigation,  and  until 
her  tule  lands  shall  have  been  securely  reclaimed ;  but  so  soon 
as  extensive  areas,  now  unfit  for  secure  tillage,  on  account  of 
the  lack  or  the  excess  of  water,  shall  have  been  protected 
against  flood  and  drouth,  there  will  be  a  rapid  increase  in  her 
population  and  wealth,  and  a  decided  improvement  in  the 
character  of  her  industry.  She  can  and  she  will  sustain  a 
population  of  twenty  millions. 


Quick:  Time  and  <  :h.eap  Fares 


FROM 


AUSTRALASIA,  CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

TO 

NEW  YORK  AND  LIVERPOOL. 


The   Great  Trans-Continental   All   Rail   Route, 

VIA 

Oentral  a&d  Uslra  If  aelfie  Mailroad  Mae 

Is  now  in  complete  running  order  from 

SAN  FRANCISCO  TO  THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD. 


THROUGH  EXPRESS    TRAINS  LEAVE    SAN    FRANCISCO    DAILY,   MAKING 
prompt  connection  with  the  several  Railway  Lines  in  the  Eastern  States,  for  all 
the  cities,  of  the  UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA,  connecting  at  New  York  with 
the  several  Steamer  Lines  to 

England,  France,  and  all  European  Ports. 


THROUGH  TIME  GOING  EAST 

6  hours.    To  Chicago,  5  days  and  6  hours.    To  New  York,  6  days  and  20  hours. 


SILVER   PALACE    SLEEPING    COACHES, 

Second  to  none  in  the  world,  are  run  daily  from  SAX  FRANCISCO  to  NEW  YORK  and 
intermediate  points  These  Drawiug-Rooni  Cars  by  day  and  Sleeping-Can  by  night  are 
unexcelled  for  comfort  and  convenience  to  the  passenger  while  t'li  route— combining  the 
elegance  of  a  private  parlor,  and  all  the  accommodations  pertaining  to  a  well-furnished 
chamber,  with  comfortable  couches,  clean  bedding,  etc.  A  competent  porter  accompan- 
ies each  car  to  attend  to  the  wants  of  our  patrons. 


Children  not  over  Twelve  (12)  Years  cf  Age,  Half  Fare  |  under  Five  (5)  Years  of  Age,  Free, 

100  Pounds  ol  Baggage  ps£?FS!r  50  Pounds  of  Baggage  ps  =?f,5r 
Ticket  Office    cos<  rcmTH  AND  TOTOSEND  STS- 

IICKei    UnlCe,  SAN  FRANCisco,  CALIFORNIA. 


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Bailroai  Lais  ii  California  an! 


The  Central  Pacific  and  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Companies  have 
land  grants  direct  from  the  U.  S.  Government,  including  wheat,  farm- 
ing, fruit,  grazing,  dairy  and  timber  lands,  equal  to  the  best  in  America, 
and  adapted  to  all  purposes  of  profitable  agriculture,  and  will  sell  the 
same  in  tracts  of  forty  acres,  or  upwards,  at  prices  ranging  from  $2.50 
to  $20  per  acre,  according  to  quality  and  situation. 

These  lands  extend  the  entire  length  of  California  and  across  the 
State  of  Nevada,  and — excepting  the  tracts  reserved  by  Government 
and  those  to  which  a  valid  homestead  or  pre-emption  right  had  attached 
prior  to  the  date  of  the  grant — comprise  all  the  vacant  odd-numbered 
sections  within  twenty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  main  line  of  the  Cen- 
tral Pacific  Railroad,  within  thirty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  line  of  the 
California  and  Oregon  branch  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  and 
within  thirty  miles  on  each  side  of  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
road. The  course  of  these  lines  of  road  can  be  readily  ascertained  by 
reference  to  any  late  maps  of  California  and  Nevada. 

It  will  be  seen  that  all  this  country  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  what 
will  be,  within  a  few  years,  a  perfect  network  of  railroads.  Lands, 
therefore,  anywhere  within  this  section,  must,  in  consequence  of  situa- 
tion, outside  of  their  intrinsic  worth,  increase  very  rapidly  in  value. 
But,  independent  of  situation,  the  general  excellent  quality  of  the  soil, 
its  great  productiveness,  its  adaptability  in  many  places  to  almost  every 
species  of  agricultural  production,  together  with  the  mildness  of  the 
climate,  the  bright  skies  and  the  equability  of  the  temperature  which 
prevails  over  the  greater  part  of  its  extent,  render  it  a  very  desirable 
section  for  the  immigrant  or  settler  who  wishes  to  make  a  happy  home 
in  a  place  where  all  the  comforts  and  most  of  the  luxuries  of  life  can  be 
had  with  but  little  trouble,  and  where  industry  and  thrift  will  be  sure 
to  meet  with  an  abundant  reward. 

Tracts  of  not  less  than  eighty  acres  will  be  sold,  if  desired,  on  a 
credit  of  five  years ;  that  is,  twenty  per  cent,  cash  in  hand,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  purchase  money  payable  at  any  time  within  five  years, 
with  interest  at  ten  per  cent,  per  annum. 

Circulars  giving  full  particulars  are  supplied  gratis. 
Apply  to  or  address, 

B.  B.  REDDING,  LAND  AGENT, 

C.  P.  &  S.  P.  Railroads, 
Cor.  Fourth  and  Townsend  Sts.,  San  Francisco,  California. 


^  LIST   OF 
Published  by  A.  ROMAN  &  CO.,  San  Francisco. 


HE  RESOURCES  OF  CALIFORNIA.      By  John  S.  Hittflll.      Sixth  Edition. 
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One  volume,  12mo.,  paper } 

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By  Guido  Kustel.   The  best  practical  work  on  the  subi<  'uth 4 

Do  Leather 

LEGAL  TITLES  TO  MINING   CLAIMS   AND   WATER   RIGHTS 

Gregory  Yf'le.    8vo.,  leather.' ••'•• 

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